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Afghan rebels may have downed helicopter { June 29 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/29/international/asia/29cnd-copter.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/29/international/asia/29cnd-copter.html
June 29, 2005
U.S. Says Afghan Rebels May Have Downed Copter
By DAVID S. CLOUD and TERENCE NEILAN
WASHINGTON, June 29 - An American military helicopter transporting troops that crashed in a rugged area of eastern Afghanistan may have been brought down by hostile fire, the military said today.
The fate of the 17 service members aboard was not known, the military said in a statement, which described the incident as "a tragic event." The service members included Special Operations troops, military officials said Tuesday.
The service members were on a mission against Al Qaeda fighters, the military said, when the MH-17 helicopter went down Tuesday west of the city of Asadabad in Kunar Province.
Recent enemy activity in the area has been described "as a series of harassing attacks and intelligence-gathering activities against Afghan and U.S. forces," said the statement posted on Central Command's Web site.
Those aboard the helicopter included a team of Navy Seal commandos, military officials said.
The statement issued today said coalition and Afghan forces had "quickly moved into position around the crash to block any enemy movement toward or away from the site," and that coalition support aircraft were overhead.
"This is a tragic event for all of use, and our hearts and prayers go out to the families, loved ones and service members still fighting in the area," said Brig. Gen. Greg Champion of the Army, deputy commanding general of Combined Joint Task Force-76.
Officials questioned on Tuesday based their explanations on preliminary reports, and did not want to be identified because complete details had not been officially released.
An Afghan man claiming to be a spokesman for the Taliban movement, Mullah Latif Hakimi, told The Associated Press that Taliban fighters had shot down the aircraft. The provincial governor, Asadullah Wafa, also said the Taliban were responsible.
American officials on Tuesday did not confirm reports of Taliban involvement, and they cautioned that many details were still sketchy.
The crash occurred as American casualties in Afghanistan have been rising again in the last three months in unexpectedly fierce combat against fighters for the Taliban and Al Qaeda. The United States has been conducting operations along the border with Pakistan to root out remaining fighters, but the opposition has proven stiffer than expected in some places, the officials said.
The United States has long been worried about the Taliban's ability to hit its helicopters with rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons. Nine helicopters have been lost to various causes in Afghanistan since the Taliban were ousted from control of Kabul, the capital, in 2001.
The MH-47 is a version of the ubiquitous Chinook large transport helicopter modified to carry Special Operations forces, and it carries electronic sensors and other defenses against ground fire. In Afghanistan, the helicopter is flown almost exclusively at night, a Special Operations officer said Tuesday.
A statement put out by the American command in Kabul said the helicopter was ferrying "additional forces" into a combat area where counterterrorism operations had been under way. The statement added, "U.S. fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters are currently providing close air support to the forces on the ground."
The helicopter was the second Chinook to go down in Afghanistan this year. Fifteen American military personnel and three civilians were killed in April when their helicopter went down in a sandstorm while returning to the airbase at Bagram. So far this year, 38 members of the American military have died in Afghanistan, including 13 in combat, according to Pentagon figures put out before the latest crash. In all of 2004, 52 Americans died in Afghanistan.
Loss of Seal commandos, if confirmed, would be a hard blow to the small, tight-knit force, which has been stretched thin by operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Seal forces were also involved in the battle in March 2002 at Takur Ghar, where seven Americans were killed in one of the deadliest firefights of the Afghanistan war.
The American base at Asadabad near the crash site is ringed by tall mountains and deep valleys that provide ample places for Taliban fighters who could shoot down a helicopter, said a Special Forces officer familiar with the location.
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
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