Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Boston Globe
June 1, 2007 By Jason Straziuso, Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Up to 40 US soldiers streamed out of a CH-47 Chinook in an air assault on a Taliban position in southern Afghanistan shortly before the helicopter crashed, officials said yesterday, killing five Americans, a Briton, and a Canadian.
The Chinook's plunge late Wednesday came on the first day of a new joint NATO-Afghan operation to force Taliban fighters out of the northern part of Helmand province.
NATO said troops who went to the crash site were ambushed by enemy fighters, and the unit called in an airstrike.
The US military said "a large number of insurgents" were killed.
Major John Thomas, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force, said the Chinook -- a heavy lift twin rotor helicopter -- had just dropped off a full load of troops from the 82d Airborne before it went down.
Thomas said between 30 and 40 troops would probably have been on board.
"It was a hostile area, where the helicopter went down," said Thomas.
Thomas said initial indications were that enemy fire may have brought down the Chinook, and a US military official, who insisted on speaking anonymously because the crash was under investigation, said reports suggested the helicopter was hit with a rocket-propelled grenade.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for attacking the aircraft.
But Lieutenant Colonel David Accetta, the top US military spokesman at Bagram Air Base, said enemy fire was only one of several possibilities.
"We will investigate thoroughly," he said. "There's no solid evidence we can point to that suggests it was shot down."
It wasn't clear how many minutes after the helicopter dropped off the US troops the helicopter crashed, Accetta said.
The troops wouldn't have landed on "a hot landing zone" -- a spot full of Taliban forces, Accetta said.
But troops would have landed within range of enemy fighters so the ISAF forces could attack them.
The American soldiers and the Briton killed have not been identified.
The Canadian soldier was identified as Master Corporal Darrell Priede, a combat cameraman.
Helicopter crashes in Afghanistan have been relatively rare.
A Chinook crashed in February in the southern province of Zabul, killing eight US personnel.
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 an RPG, killing 16 Americans.
Some 2,000 ISAF and Afghan forces are taking part in the new operation, Britain's Ministry of Defense said. The offensive includes forces from Britain, the United States, Denmark, and Estonia.
Lieutenant Colonel Charlie Mayo, a British military spokesman, said the continued presence of Taliban fighters in the upper Sangin Valley was putting at risk previous "good work" done in Helmand, the world's largest opium poppy-growing region and a Taliban stronghold.
"This is certainly not a major fresh offensive but a continuation of the progress made by NATO's Operation Achilles launched in March," Mayo said.
June 1, 2007 By Jason Straziuso, Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Up to 40 US soldiers streamed out of a CH-47 Chinook in an air assault on a Taliban position in southern Afghanistan shortly before the helicopter crashed, officials said yesterday, killing five Americans, a Briton, and a Canadian.
The Chinook's plunge late Wednesday came on the first day of a new joint NATO-Afghan operation to force Taliban fighters out of the northern part of Helmand province.
NATO said troops who went to the crash site were ambushed by enemy fighters, and the unit called in an airstrike.
The US military said "a large number of insurgents" were killed.
Major John Thomas, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force, said the Chinook -- a heavy lift twin rotor helicopter -- had just dropped off a full load of troops from the 82d Airborne before it went down.
Thomas said between 30 and 40 troops would probably have been on board.
"It was a hostile area, where the helicopter went down," said Thomas.
Thomas said initial indications were that enemy fire may have brought down the Chinook, and a US military official, who insisted on speaking anonymously because the crash was under investigation, said reports suggested the helicopter was hit with a rocket-propelled grenade.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for attacking the aircraft.
But Lieutenant Colonel David Accetta, the top US military spokesman at Bagram Air Base, said enemy fire was only one of several possibilities.
"We will investigate thoroughly," he said. "There's no solid evidence we can point to that suggests it was shot down."
It wasn't clear how many minutes after the helicopter dropped off the US troops the helicopter crashed, Accetta said.
The troops wouldn't have landed on "a hot landing zone" -- a spot full of Taliban forces, Accetta said.
But troops would have landed within range of enemy fighters so the ISAF forces could attack them.
The American soldiers and the Briton killed have not been identified.
The Canadian soldier was identified as Master Corporal Darrell Priede, a combat cameraman.
Helicopter crashes in Afghanistan have been relatively rare.
A Chinook crashed in February in the southern province of Zabul, killing eight US personnel.
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 an RPG, killing 16 Americans.
Some 2,000 ISAF and Afghan forces are taking part in the new operation, Britain's Ministry of Defense said. The offensive includes forces from Britain, the United States, Denmark, and Estonia.
Lieutenant Colonel Charlie Mayo, a British military spokesman, said the continued presence of Taliban fighters in the upper Sangin Valley was putting at risk previous "good work" done in Helmand, the world's largest opium poppy-growing region and a Taliban stronghold.
"This is certainly not a major fresh offensive but a continuation of the progress made by NATO's Operation Achilles launched in March," Mayo said.