US Army Chinook helicopter shot down by Taliban Afghanistan killing 31 US Special Forces 0608111

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Defense News - United States
 
 
Saturday, August 6, 2011, 05:49 PM
 
United States Chinook helicopter shot down by Taliban in Afghanistan killing 31 U.S. Special Forces.
A US army Chinook helicopter crash in eastern Afghanistan has killed 31 US special forces and seven Afghan soldiers, President Hamid Karzai's office says. The forces have been conducting almost daily night-time raids against insurgent targets throughout Afghanistan.
     


A Chinook helicopter with Task Force Brawler, 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade, Task Force Falcon, lifts off after unloading Soldiers and school supplies in the Logar province, Afghanistan. (Archive Image)
(Photo Credit U.S. army : Sgt. Scott Tant, 4/3 Aviation Regiment, TF Falcon)
     

Saturday's crash took place in the eastern province of Wardak, an area rife with insurgent activity. There has been a swell of recent attacks in the country's southern and eastern provinces.

The Taliban claimed militants downed the helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade. Mohammad Hazrat Janan, head of the provincial council said Tangi village elders reported that insurgents shot at the craft when it was flying back from an operation.

The crash comes just as NATO is drawing down and handing over security control to national forces. Ten thousand U.S. soldiers are scheduled to depart by year's end, while the full drawn-down is expected to take place by the end of 2014.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force has not said how the incident occurred. ISAF spokesman Justin Brockhoff confirmed the crash and acknowledged the helicopter had been flying in area where there was reported insurgent activity, but declined to offer additional details.