Taliban Shoots Down Helicopter In Northern Afghanistan
Source: Turkishweekly
Thursday, 25 March 2010
A civilian helicopter contracted by the US military made a "hard landing" Wednesday in northern Afghanistan after being hit by Taliban militants but there were no casualties, officials said.
The helicopter was shot in the Dashti Archi district of Kunduz province, said Sheikh Saadi, the district governor. NATO forces rushed to the area with their helicopters to evacuate the military personnel aboard, he said, DPA reported.
A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed the attack. He said in Kabul that the craft was contracted by US military forces and there were no injuries among those on board.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid, speaking by phone from an undisclosed location, said Taliban fighters hit the helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade, killing all soldiers on board.
The crash came a day after a Turkish helicopter serving in the ISAF mission crashed in the central province of Wardak, injuring three people.
US and Turkish soldiers are among the 120,000 international troops currently stationed in the war-torn country.
A civilian helicopter contracted by the US military made a "hard landing" Wednesday in northern Afghanistan after being hit by Taliban militants but there were no casualties, officials said.
The helicopter was shot in the Dashti Archi district of Kunduz province, said Sheikh Saadi, the district governor. NATO forces rushed to the area with their helicopters to evacuate the military personnel aboard, he said, DPA reported.
A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed the attack. He said in Kabul that the craft was contracted by US military forces and there were no injuries among those on board.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid, speaking by phone from an undisclosed location, said Taliban fighters hit the helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade, killing all soldiers on board.
The crash came a day after a Turkish helicopter serving in the ISAF mission crashed in the central province of Wardak, injuring three people.
US and Turkish soldiers are among the 120,000 international troops currently stationed in the war-torn country.
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