Seven killed as helicopter shot down in Afghanistan

Five Americans and two other soldiers died when a Chinook helicopter was apparently shot down in Afghanistan’s most volatile province. The Taliban has claimed responsibility.

NATO’s International Security Assistance Force said other troops rushing to the scene last night were ambushed and had to call in air support to drive off their attackers.

Initial reports suggested the helicopter was hit with a rocket-propelled grenade, said a US official, speaking anonymously. NATO said there were no survivors.

A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, claimed in a phone call to The Associated Press news agency that militants shot the helicopter down in southern Helmand province, the world’s largest opium poppy-growing region where combat has been heavy in recent months.

Ahmadi did not offer any proof for his claim, but he specified the helicopter crashed in the Kajaki district hours before NATO reported that information. Kajaki is the site of a hydroelectric dam and the scene of recent fighting.

NATO said the CH-47 Chinook was carrying a crew of five and two military passengers when it crashed. The cause was “being determined by military officials”, it said. The nationality of the two other dead soldiers was not released.

NATO said troops going to the crash site were ambushed by enemy fighters and the unit called in an air strike “to eliminate the enemy threat”. It did not say if the troops were from the US-led coalition, Nato’s force or the Afghan army. One civilian was injured by gunfire.

The CH-47 Chinook, a heavy transport helicopter with two rotors, can carry around 40 soldiers plus a small crew. The fact it was flying at night suggested the aircraft might have been carrying troops on a night-time air assault.

Kajaki is the site of a large US-funded hydroelectric dam now being repaired so it can provide electricity to the southern city of Kandahar. British troops, who make up the bulk of the forces in Helmand province, have been engaged in fierce fighting around the dam protecting it.

The NATO force, which is responsible for a countrywide counter-insurgency campaign, has 37,000 soldiers, including about 14,000 Americans. There are 12,000 US troops in the separate US-led coalition, which trains the Afghan army and conducts special forces anti-terrorism operations.