Taliban 'shot down' crash helicopter in Afghanistan
A US Chinook helicopter that crashed in eastern Afghanistan may have been shot down by hostile fire, and the fate of 17 American service members aboard was unclear, the US military said today. The Taliban claimed it attacked the aircraft.
If confirmed, yesterday’s attack would apparently be the first time a US-led coalition aircraft has been downed by hostile fire in Afghanistan, in what could be one of the deadliest incidents for US forces in the country since the Taliban was ousted in 2001.
The crash comes amid increasing concern that the war here is escalating into a conflict on the scale of that in Iraq.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for downing the Chinook helicopter in rugged mountains in Kunar province, on the border with Pakistan, and local Gov Asadullah Wafa said the rebels hit the aircraft with a rocket.
US military spokesman Col James Yonts said the aircraft was shot at as it was approaching a landing zone while rushing reinforcements to a battle in an area known to harbour “terrorist organisations.” It flew on, but crashed about 1.2 miles away yesterday evening, he said.
“The aircraft was taking indirect fire and direct fire from elements on the ground,” he told reporters. “Whether or not that caused it to crash we do not know yet.”
Coalition and Afghan troops “quickly moved into position around the crash to block any enemy movement toward or away from the site,” a US military statement said. Yonts said fighting was continuing today.
There was no word on whether there were any survivors a day after the crash because US troops were finding it difficult to reach the wreckage in the remote and rugged mountains, said US spokeswoman Lt Cindy Moore.
The New York Times today reported that Navy Seal commandos were on the aircraft, which it said was an MH-47, a Chinook modified for special operations. But US officials described the aircraft as a standard CH-47 Chinook and declined to identify the names of the 17 on board or their unit until their families were notified.
Purported Taliban spokesman Mullah Latif Hakimi said the rebels shot the helicopter down.
He said the rebels filmed the attack and would release the video to the media. He also claimed that rebels had killed seven US soldiers in an attack in the same area, although Moore said no such attack had been made on an American convoy.
Hakimi often calls news organisations to claim responsibility for attacks on behalf of the Taliban. His information has sometimes proven untrue or exaggerated, and his exact tie to the group’s leadership is unclear.
“This is a tragic event for all of us, and our hearts and prayers go out to the families, loved ones and men still fighting in the area,” said US Army Brig Gen Greg Champion, deputy commanding general of Combined Joint Task Force-76. “This incident will only further our resolve to defeat the enemies of peace.”
The crash was the second of a Chinook helicopter in Afghanistan this year. On April 6, 15 US service members and three American civilians were killed when their helicopter went down in a sandstorm while returning to the main US base at Bagram.
The US military has launched operations in several areas along the border with Pakistan. Those offensives target remnants of al Qaida and the hard-line Taliban movement, as well as foreign fighters using high mountain passes to cross the largely uncontrolled border from Pakistan.
Yesterday’s crash came after three months of unprecedented fighting that has killed about 465 suspected insurgents, 29 US troops, 43 Afghan police and soldiers, and 125 civilians. Afghan and US officials have predicted the situation will deteriorate in the lead-up to legislative elections in September.
In the latest fighting, suspected rebels detonated a roadside bomb under a police vehicle in the same province as the helicopter crash, killing a district police chief and two other officers, said Zahar Murad, a defence ministry spokesman in Kabul.
