Post by Admin on Jul 2, 2008 6:29:20 GMT -6
U.S. helicopter shot down in Afghanistan
KABUL, July 2 (Reuters) - A helicopter belonging to U.S.-led coalition troops was shot down by small-arms fire south of the Afghan capital on Wednesday, but there were no serious injuries to those on board, the U.S. military said.
The pilots landed the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter safely and evacuated all personnel before it caught fire in the Kharwar district of Logar province, where Taliban militants are known to be active.
"Coalition forces cleared the area using helicopters, show-of-force and firing warning rounds before using precision-guided munitions to destroy the helicopter," the U.S. military said.
It was the second coalition helicopter to crash in a week. The other incident, in Kunar province in the northeast, is under investigation but indications are that the helicopter crashed due to mechanical failure, a U.S. military spokesman said.
Removed from power in 2001 by U.S.-led troops, the resurgent Taliban claimed responsibility for downing the helicopter and said that all those on board were killed. The group said it shot down the helicopter with anti-aircraft rockets.
The Taliban have brought down a number of aircraft, but so far the militants are not thought to have obtained surface-to-air missiles that could alter the balance of the war dramatically.
Many historians believe it was the Afghan mujahideen's acquisitions of such missiles that tipped the war against the Soviet occupation in their favour in the 1980s.
International troops rely heavily on aircraft to transport troops and supplies around the rugged mountainous country.
Elsewhere, a suicide car bomber hit a convoy of NATO forces on Wednesday, wounding two Canadian soldiers, three policemen and two civilians on a road near the southern town of Spin Boldak which lies on the border with Pakistan, said border police commander Abdul Razaq.
Afghanistan has seen a rise in violence this year, despite the increased presence of foreign troops, now numbering more than 70,000.
The austere Islamist Taliban have vowed to step up their campaign of guerrilla, suicide and roadside bomb attacks this year to undermine Afghan support for the government in Kabul and pressure foreign troops into pulling out.
KABUL, July 2 (Reuters) - A helicopter belonging to U.S.-led coalition troops was shot down by small-arms fire south of the Afghan capital on Wednesday, but there were no serious injuries to those on board, the U.S. military said.
The pilots landed the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter safely and evacuated all personnel before it caught fire in the Kharwar district of Logar province, where Taliban militants are known to be active.
"Coalition forces cleared the area using helicopters, show-of-force and firing warning rounds before using precision-guided munitions to destroy the helicopter," the U.S. military said.
It was the second coalition helicopter to crash in a week. The other incident, in Kunar province in the northeast, is under investigation but indications are that the helicopter crashed due to mechanical failure, a U.S. military spokesman said.
Removed from power in 2001 by U.S.-led troops, the resurgent Taliban claimed responsibility for downing the helicopter and said that all those on board were killed. The group said it shot down the helicopter with anti-aircraft rockets.
The Taliban have brought down a number of aircraft, but so far the militants are not thought to have obtained surface-to-air missiles that could alter the balance of the war dramatically.
Many historians believe it was the Afghan mujahideen's acquisitions of such missiles that tipped the war against the Soviet occupation in their favour in the 1980s.
International troops rely heavily on aircraft to transport troops and supplies around the rugged mountainous country.
Elsewhere, a suicide car bomber hit a convoy of NATO forces on Wednesday, wounding two Canadian soldiers, three policemen and two civilians on a road near the southern town of Spin Boldak which lies on the border with Pakistan, said border police commander Abdul Razaq.
Afghanistan has seen a rise in violence this year, despite the increased presence of foreign troops, now numbering more than 70,000.
The austere Islamist Taliban have vowed to step up their campaign of guerrilla, suicide and roadside bomb attacks this year to undermine Afghan support for the government in Kabul and pressure foreign troops into pulling out.
