Five U.S. GIs Die in Attack On Helicopter
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
KABUL, Afghanistan — Five American soldiers were killed when their Chinook helicopter was apparently shot down in southern Afghanistan yesterday, an American military official said. The Taliban claimed responsibility.
Initial reports suggested the helicopter was hit with a rocket-propelled grenade, said the U.S. military official, who requested anonymity because details of the crash had not yet been released. It wasn’t clear if there were any survivors, the official said.
A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, claimed in a phone call to the Associated Press that militants had shot the helicopter down in the volatile province of Helmand, the world’s largest poppy-growing region and the scene of heavy fighting in recent months. That claim could not be immediately verified. A battalion of U.S. forces from the 82nd Airborne Division has been engaged in fierce combat in Helmand in recent weeks, though Britain has the largest number of troops in Helmand.
NATO’s International Security Assistance Force confirmed that one of its helicopters crashed in southern Afghanistan, but it released no other details.
The CH–47 Chinook, a heavy transport helicopter with two rotors, can carry up to around 40 troops plus a small crew. The fact it was flying at night suggests the helicopter may have been carrying troops on a nighttime air assault.
