From Wikinews, the free news source you can write!
Page version status
The page has not been checked
There are no reviewed versions of this page, so it may not have been checked for adherence to standards.
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Image from Taliban site http://www.alemarah.com/. The Taliban claim to have shot down the helicopter using a rocket.
The US military has confirmed that 17 servicemen were onboard a CH-47 Chinook helicopter that has crashed near Asadabad, Afghanistan, on June 28. The fate of the men being transported to an area of Al-Qaeda resistance is unknown.
Coalition and Afghan troops moved into the area to secure the site and other coalition aircraft have been sent to assist. The crash occurred high up in mountainous terrain, and is believed to have been the result of hostile fire. Efforts to search for the crash site are being met by bad weather and harsh terrain.
The helicopter was transporting forces as part of ongoing operations to fight militants who operate in the area, and who have recently been escalating their attacks.
The Taliban claimed they shot the helicopter down. A man claiming to be a spokesman for the Taliban, Abdul Latif Hakimi, reported the downing of the helicopter to offices in Kabul before news of the crash was released by the U.S. military. The Hakimi relationship to the Taliban is unclear, and his reports are sometimes inaccurate. He claimed that video footage of the attack would be posted to a Taliban Web site at the address www.alemarah.com. The New York Times reported the site appeared blocked later in the day on Wednesday, although the site is still visible in Google's cache.
At least 29 service men have died in Afghanistan this year, while at least 450 people have been killed in the last three months, mostly militants. A Chinook which crashed in April with the loss of 18 lives was brought down by a sandstorm.
This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
The text of this article has been released into the public domain. In the event that this is not legally possible, this article may be used for any purpose, without any condition, unless such conditions are required by law. This applies worldwide. Copyright terms on images, however, may vary, so please check individual image pages prior to duplication.
This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
The text of this article has been released into the public domain. In the event that this is not legally possible, this article may be used for any purpose, without any condition, unless such conditions are required by law. This applies worldwide. Copyright terms on images, however, may vary, so please check individual image pages prior to duplication.
