Seven Killed in NATO Helicopter Crash in Afghanistan (VIDEO)

Initial media reports said the helicopter was hit with a rocket-propelled grenade. Included in this report is a look at the type of helicopter that crashed, filed recently by Tim King in Afghanistan.

Photo: US Army

(KABUL, Afghanistan) - Five Americans and two other soldiers were killed when a NATO Chinook helicopter was shot down in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, NATO said.

The Taliban claimed credit for shooting it down.

It is also reported that troops responding to the scene were ambushed by enemy fighters and called for an air strike to eliminate the threat, NATO said.

Initial media reports said the helicopter was hit with a rocket-propelled grenade.

A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, claimed in a phone call to The Associated Press that militants shot the helicopter down in southern Helmand province, the world's largest opium poppy-growing region where combat has been heavy in recent months.

The CH-47 Chinook, a heavy transport helicopter with two rotors, went down in the southern province of Helmand, where Western forces have clashed repeatedly with Taliban guerrillas in recent months following a winter lull in fighting.

"The entire crew of five died in the incident. There were also two military passengers who died," NATO's International Security Assistance Force said in a statement. "One Afghan civilian was injured by small arms fire after the crash."

The helicopter went down in the Kajaki region, where Afghan government and foreign officials are hoping to eliminate guerrillas in order to carry out a key hydro-electric project; the reconstruction of the Kajaki dam.

Taliban leaders have threatened in recent weeks to step up attacks on NATO and US-led coalition troops.

Last year's fighting between Western forces and the militants was the bloodiest since the US-led overthrow of the Taliban in 2001.

In February, eight US troops were killed when a Chinook crashed in Zabul province. Mechanical failure was blamed.

In May 2006, a Chinook crash killed 10 US servicemen in Kunar province.

Three Chinook crashes in 2005 were blamed for the deaths of 37 US troops. One of those helicopters was shot down.

******************************************************
Watch the Streaming Video News Report below, Helicopters Thunder Across Afghanistan Territory, from Tim King who filed over 30 reports last winter as an embedded reporter in Kabul, Afghanistan. The story takes the viewer inside the type of helicopter that crashed today:

Video

Reports From Iraq

Salem-News.com Top Stories
Salem Officer Tells Story of Wednesday's Mill Creek Rescue (VIDEO)

---

The War on Terror Does Not Exist

---

Beyond the Debate: Making an Informed Decision about Mammograms

---

A Fish Story

---

Army Announces Independent Body Armor Review

---

Name:

Enter the text from the image to confirm you are human.(Cookies are required)

HTML tags and certain characters are removed - (numbers, letters only or post may be cut short.) certain words are banned to stop spammers. All comments and messages are approved by people and self promotional links or unacceptable comments are denied.