"U.S. helicopter shot down last night because of the Taliban while on takeoff. Rocket fired by the rebels right on target and destroy at once the helicopter," said Shahid Shahidullah, government spokesman Wardak province, eastern Afghanistan, where the fall chinook incident occurred on Friday ( 05/08/2011) night.
The death toll was composed of 31 U.S. soldiers and seven Afghan soldiers. Everything inside the Chinook helicopter that would take them home after an operation to complete. According to ABC News, as many as 25 U.S. soldiers who were killed were members of the elite Navy SEALs.
Based on the record of AFP and CNN, this is the largest number of victims killed in the coalition forces in one single incident that occurred since the US-led coalition forces attacked Afghanistan, 2001.
According to the Taliban before, they are running the operation raid a house where Taliban insurgents in the gathering of Zayd Abad district, Wardak, which is located in the southwest of Kabul by helicopter chinook. Shahid and the Taliban said eight Taliban insurgents were killed in the attack.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, President Barack Obama, and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen to say condolence to the families of the coalition forces who are victims of the tragedy chinook. "Their deaths remind us tremendous sacrifice our military personnel and their families, including all personnel who had served in Afghanistan," Obama said in a statement released by the White House on Saturday (08/06/2011).
Until now, the Pentagon and NATO has not confirmed the cause of the crash. However, if the Afghan official statement is true, this incident such as repeat incidents fall Chinook helicopter in June 2005 in Kunar Province, Afghanistan.
When about to rescue the soldiers, Chinook helicopters which contains eight members of a special aviation regiment 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) and eight other members of the Navy SEALs, was shot down by Taliban militia with RPGs, killing everyone inside. (AFP / CNN / DHF) You have read The fall of U.S. Chinook Mystery Revealed
