Taleban 'downed Nato helicopter' | |||
Seven people died in the crash, five of them US crew. Two military passengers - one British, one Canadian - also died. Nato-led troops are fighting militants nearby. Dozens of Taleban were killed or injured, Afghan officials say. Elsewhere, at least 16 policemen died in a Taleban ambush in southern Zabul province, the interior ministry said. Fighting between Nato-led security forces and the Taleban has escalated in recent weeks - particularly in the south. 'Enemy fire' Nato is still investigating the cause of Wednesday's crash, but says it looks as if Taleban claims to have shot the Chinook down may well be correct.
"It was a hostile area where the helicopter went down," said Major John Thomas, a spokesman for Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf). "Initial indications are that enemy fire may have brought down the helicopter." The nationality of the seventh passenger is still unclear. The helicopter crashed at around 2100 (1630 GMT) in the Kajaki district of Helmand, Isaf said in a statement. A rescue patrol was ambushed by "enemy fighters" and forced to call for an air strike to access the crash site, Isaf said. Incidents of helicopters being shot down are relatively rare in the country, says the BBC's Alastair Leithead in Kabul. About 30,000 alliance troops and another 10,000 US-led ones have been battling to boost the authority of President Hamid Karzai. 'Ambush' On Thursday, Isaf confirmed that fighting was going on against the Taleban in Sangin district, near Kajaki. A statement said air strikes had been carried out against Taleban positions. It did not say whether there had been any casualties. But the Afghan Defence Ministry said dozens of Taleban fighters had been killed or wounded. Local people have disputed the government account, saying some of those killed were civilians rather than Taleban. Sangin district police chief Ghulam Wali told the BBC the aim of the operation was to secure the road from the Shali area to Kajaki. In the ambush in Zabul, six policemen were injured as well as those killed, officials said. Interior Ministry spokesman Zmaray Bashary told the BBC that police had also inflicted heavy casualties on their attackers in a gun battle which had raged for 20 minutes. He said the ambush took place in Shahjoy district, a Taleban stronghold, as the police convoy travelled from Zabul to Ghazni. There was no way of independently verifying casualty figures in either incident. | |||
> Taleban 'downed Nato helicopter'
