A Chinook helicopter of the NATO-led International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF) went down and killed seven NATO soldiers on
board in Kajaki district of Helmand province at about 9 PM (16:30
GMT) on Wednesday, ISAF said in a statement early Thursday.
"The entire crew of five died in the incident; there were also
two military passengers who died," it said, adding one Afghan
civilian was injured by small arms fire after the crash.
The statement did not clearly disclose how many personnel were
on board. "The cause of the crash is being determined by military
officials," it said.
Responding to the scene of the crash, a unit was ambushed by
enemy fighters, the statement said, adding the unit called for an
air strike to eliminate the enemy threat.
In accordance with NATO policy, ISAF does not release the
casualties' nationality prior to the relevant national authority
doing so.
However, some media reports quoted an anonymous US military
official as saying that Taliban militants shot down the chopper by
a rocket propelled grenade, and five US soldiers were killed in the
crash.
Meanwhile, a Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi told Xinhua by
satellite phone from an undisclosed place that it was Taliban
fighters who brought down the Chinook. This could not be verified
immediately.
"All soldiers and personnel on the helicopter apparently were
killed," Ahmadi said.
In another recent accident, a Chinook helicopter of the US-led
coalition forces crashed on Feb. 18 in Zabul province of southern
Afghanistan, killing eight US soldiers and injuring 14 others on
board. The two-engine Chinook has the capacity of carrying about 30
persons.
An ISAF aircraft, which was carrying out a reconnaissance task
over a battlefield, crashed in Kandahar province of southern
Afghanistan on Sept. 2, 2006, killing all 14 British soldiers on
board.
Helicopters of ISAF and coalition forces have crashed in this
volatile country from time to time. The Taliban usually swiftly
claimed responsibility for shooting them down.
However, ISAF and coalition forces denied all this kind of
sayings except to accept that one coalition helicopter was shot
down by "a lucky rocket propelled grenade" from the Taliban in the
eastern Kunar province June 2005.
About 37,000 ISAF and 13,000 coalition soldiers are being
deployed in Afghanistan to hunt down militants and keep security.
Over 50 ISAF and coalition soldiers have lost their lives in this
insurgent country this year.
(Xinhua News Agency May 31, 2007)
