KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Five Americans and two other soldiers died when a Chinook helicopter was apparently shot down Wednesday evening in Afghanistan's most volatile province, a U.S. military official said. The Taliban claimed responsibility.
NATO's International Security Assistance Force said other troops rushing to the scene were ambushed and had to call in air support to drive off their attackers.
Initial reports suggested the helicopter was hit with a rocket-propelled grenade, said the U.S. official, who insisted on speaking anonymously because the crash was still under investigation. NATO said there were no survivors.
Along with the five Americans, two soldiers from Britain and Canada who had been passengers were also killed, military officials said.
This, on the same day that opposition MPs were once again calling for useless defence minister Gordon O'Connor to resign for lying in parliament about the DND's funeral funding inaction.
May this soldier rest in peace.
In other news from Afghanistan:
JALALABAD, Afghanistan, May 30 (Reuters) - The U.S. military said coalition and Afghan troops killed six Taliban and arrested four in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, though a provincial official and residents said the casualties were villagers.
According to a coalition statement there were no coalition or civilian casualties suffered during a firefight that erupted in an operation in the mountains of Nangarhar province.
The statement did not mention the location in Nangarhar, but Dadak Zalmai, the chief of Khogiani district, said there was a pre-dawn raid on a house in his district.
"The troops killed three civilians and took four with them," Zalmai said.
Several residents said seven civilians, including women and children, were killed and eight wounded in the raid.
How many more civilians are going to die in these botched raids?
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