U.S. helicopter shot down in Afghanistan

REUTERSReuters North American News Service
Jul 02, 2008 08:47 EST
KABUL, July 2 (Reuters) - A helicopter belonging to U.S.-led coalition troops was shot down by small-arms fire south of the Afghan capital on Wednesday, but there were no serious injuries to those on board, the U.S. military said.
Afghanistan has seen a rise in violence this year, despite the increased presence of foreign troops, now numbering more than 70,000 and some Western politicians have recently warned the country may slip back into anarchy.
The pilots landed the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter safely and evacuated all personnel before it caught fire in the Kharwar district of Logar province, where Taliban militants are known to be active.
"Coalition forces cleared the area using helicopters, show-of-force and firing warning rounds before using precision-guided munitions to destroy the helicopter," the U.S. military said.
It was the second coalition helicopter to crash in a week. The other incident, in Kunar province in the northeast, is under investigation but indications are that the helicopter crashed due to mechanical failure, a U.S. military spokesman said.
Removed from power in 2001 by U.S.-led troops, the resurgent Taliban claimed responsibility for downing the helicopter and said that all those on board were killed. The group said it shot down the helicopter with anti-aircraft rockets.
The Taliban have brought down a number of aircraft, but so far the militants are not thought to have obtained surface-to-air missiles that could alter the balance of the war dramatically.
Many historians believe it was the Afghan mujahideen's acquisitions of such missiles that tipped the war against the Soviet occupation in their favour in the 1980s.
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