AusMilitary.com Formerly AusSpecialForces.com             
Locations of visitors to this pageAusSpecialForces.com
 AusMilitary.com: Australia's war-winning military discussion forum  Home   •   Forums   •   Blogs   •   Pages   •   Contact   •   Advertising   •    Bookmark and Share
It is currently Fri Sep 10, 2010 3:21 am


The Australian | Defence News: Timor solution 'forgotten' * Political opponents unite to honour fallen Digger * Griffin's move opens up frontbench spot * Defence given lift-off to buy Growlers * Vet to get compo for smoke 'pressure' * ABC News | Just In: Flood warning for Lower Goulburn River * Oakeshott to reveal position on ministry offer * Man charged with murder after body found in reserve * Koran burning would be Al Qaeda 'recruitment bonanza' * Michael Yon: One Cell Phone at a Time: Countering Corruption in Afghanistan * Even as the World Watched IV: Peaceful, or Pistol? * Supportfooter * Even as the World Watched III: Getting Hit to Get the Shot *

    

All times are UTC + 10 hours




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 1 post ] 
Author Message
 Post subject: NATO Chinook shot down
PostPosted: Thu May 31, 2007 2:22 pm 
Offline
 

Joined: Sat Jan 14, 2006 4:13 pm
Posts: 1673
Location: South Australia
NATO Chinook shot down
May 31, 2007


A CHINOOK helicopter has been shot down in southern Afghanistan, killing all seven NATO soldiers aboard. The Taliban has claimed responsibility.

Initial reports suggested the helicopter was hit with a rocket-propelled grenade, a US military official said today.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force said seven ISAF soldiers were killed after the CH-47 Chinook went down in Helmand province near Kajaki, the site of a major hydroelectric damn and scene of fierce battles in recent months.

The crew of five and two military passengers died, NATO said.

It did not release nationalities, but a US official said the two passengers were not American. There were no survivors.

A battalion of US forces from the 82nd Airborne Division, fighting under the ISAF flag, has been engaged in heavy fighting in recent weeks in Helmand - the world's largest poppy-growing region.

More Taliban militants have massed in Helmand than in any other province.

A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, claimed in a phone call to The Associated Press that militants had shot the helicopter down near Kajaki.

He did not offer any proof of the claim, but Ahmadi did specify that the helicopter went down in Kajaki hours before NATO released that information.

"We have weapons that we have used to target helicopters before," he said.

ISAF said troops responding to the crash site were ambushed by enemy fighters and that the unit called in an airstrike "to eliminate the enemy threat."

It did not specify if the troops were from the U.S.-led coalition, ISAF or Afghan forces.

One Afghan civilian was injured by gunfire during the firefight, ISAF said. The cause of the crash was "being determined by military officials," it said.

The CH-47 Chinook, a heavy transport helicopter with twin rotors, can carry up to around 40 troops plus a small crew.

The fact it was flying at night suggests the helicopter may have been carrying troops on a nighttime 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 to protect it.

Helicopter crashes in Afghanistan have been relatively rare.

A Chinook crashed in February in the southern province of Zabul, killing eight US servicemembers. Officials ruled out enemy fire as the cause.

In May 2006, another Chinook crashed attempting a nighttime landing on a small mountaintop in eastern Kunar province, killing 10 US soldiers.

In 2005, a US helicopter crashed in Kunar, after apparently being hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, killing 16 American troops.

Elsewhere, a senior military officer said the US has "got the Taliban on their heels" in Afghanistan.

Brig. Gen. Perry Wiggins, deputy director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Pentagon reporters that "as a result of a number of operations ... basically the Taliban has suffered numerous losses and has suffered losses to their senior leadership over this past month" in southern and eastern Afghanistan.

As a result, he said, the Taliban has "reverted to asymmetric-type, small-scale, high-profile attacks."

Mullah Dadullah, a one-legged veteran who orchestrated an intensifying campaign of suicide attacks and beheadings, was killed in an operation in southern Afghanistan this month.

He had been considered the top Taliban field commander.

Still, Brig. Gen. Wiggins noted that as the poppy harvest ends, more insurgents may join the battle.

"So the fight's not over," he said. "but we'll continue to take the offensive through several of the operations we have in Afghanistan, and hopefully ... continue to inflict casualties on the Taliban."

AP


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 1 post ] 

 

All times are UTC + 10 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: zExabot [Bot] and 1 guest


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
Brotherhood never was like it;
Friendship is not the word;
But deep in that body of marching men
The soul of a nation stirred.

-- A.B. "Banjo" Patterson,
    'Australia Today', 1916


AusMilitary.com is Australia's leading military discussion forum. Originally formed back in 2004 as AusSpecialForces.com as a forum for, by, and about the Australian Special Forces, the forum has since widened it's scope to include all members and branches of the ADF as well as our honoured guests and allies from overseas. Despite some sections being open to the public, the forum still enjoys the membership and advice of respected members of the Special Forces and Special Operations Forces both local and international, as well as those from elite specialities in the conventional forces. From recruit training right up to SF selection tips - if it's frank and honest advice you're after, you'll find it here.

Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group. PrototypeV2 Style © 2008 ShadowFlames Development. Original Design by Frost - Maintained and Modified by Ika