KABUL (Reuters) – A NATO helicopter crashed during a battle with the Taliban in Afghanistan, killing 31 US soldiers and seven Afghans, the Afghan president said yesterday, the deadliest single incident for foreign troops in 10 years of war.
A brief statement from the presidential palace said the troop-carrying Chinook helicopter had crashed in Syedabad in central Maidan Wardak province, just west of the capital, Kabul.
It identified the Americans as special forces troops.
The Taliban quickly claimed to have shot down the helicopter during a firefight, although the Islamist militant group often exaggerates incidents involving foreign troops or Afghan government targets. They also said eight insurgents were killed in fierce fighting.
“They wanted to attack our mujahideen who were in a house, but our mujahideen resisted and destroyed a helicopter with a RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) rocket,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said by telephone from an undisclosed location.
“Eight mujahideen were martyred and 38 Americans were killed and today they (US soldiers) carried away parts of their plane and shattered pieces of their bodies.”
In Washington, a US official said that the helicopter was thought to have been shot down and that special operations forces were aboard.
The official declined to specify which units were involved, but said none of the individuals who took part in the raid earlier this year on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan was on the helicopter.
The Pentagon has said the cause of the crash is being investigated.
US and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) officials in Kabul confirmed a helicopter had crashed on Friday night but gave no details about casualties or the possible cause.
“ISAF is still assessing the circumstances that resulted in these deaths and recovery operations are currently underway,” the US embassy in Kabul said in a statement.
US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said in a statement the United States would “stay the course” to complete the mission in Afghanistan, a sentiment echoed by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
“The incident is under investigation right now as this helicopter belongs to international forces,” Afghanistan’s Defence Ministry spokesman Zaher Azimy told Reuters television.
“Obviously they will provide details of the crash and the reason.”
He said the Afghans killed were also from a commando unit.
