The World - News from July 19, 1987

A Pakistani air force F-16 accidentally shot down a companion F-16 previously reported to have been hit by a Soviet-made missile last May in combat over Afghanistan, U.S. sources said. “It was pilot error,” a U.S. intelligence source said of the fighter’s loss. Following the incident, Administration aides quoted Pakistani counterparts as announcing that six Soviet-made Afghan aircraft had entered Pakistani airspace and that two Pakistani jets chased them back across the border. In so doing, one of the Afghan jets downed the F-16 with an air-to-air missile, Pakistani officials were quoted as saying. Administration sources said some Pentagon and State Department officials aided in the cover-up.