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Afghanistan: Taliban downs Blackhawk helicopter, killing 11 including 7 US soldiers ( 0) Print This
By News Bulletin
BBC
Thursday, Aug 16, 2012

Editor's Note: The BBC makes a lame attempt to rob the Taliban of their successful military operation by calling their attack on a US Blackhawk helicopter a "crash" and stating that the Taliban's "claim could not be verified" and that "correspondents say the group is prone to exaggeration." Are the Pentagon and the British Land Command also "groups" and does the BBC report their attacks in Afghanistan as exaggerations? It's nothing new - just another example of how the BBC *****s itself to the corporate government of the UK.
This month is the anniversary of the Taliban's shooting down the U.S. Chinook near Kabul, killing 30 US soldiers and 8 Afghans in the puppet military. When that took place, many corporate media reported in the same way until videos proved that the aircraft had been shot down by the Taliban.

The Taliban scored another military success, shooting down a US Blackhawk helicopter in the Kahn Wali Kot area of Kandahar.
Afghan helicopter crash kills 11 in Kandahar, Isaf says
Eleven people have been killed after a Black Hawk helicopter carrying foreign troops crashed in southern Afghanistan, the Nato-led coalition force says.
Seven American soldiers and four Afghans died in the crash, the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said.
The helicopter came down in the Shah Wali Kot district of Kandahar province, the Afghan authorities said.
Isaf said it was investigating the cause of the crash.
Three of the Afghans killed were members of the security forces, while one was a civilian interpreter, Isaf said in its statement.
The Taliban said it carried out the attack but its claim could not be verified. Correspondents say the group is prone to exaggeration.
Helicopter crashes are not uncommon in Afghanistan, where international forces depend heavily on air transport.
In August 2011, the Taliban shot down an American Chinook near Kabul, killing 30 Americans and eight Afghans in the deadliest single incident for US troops since the war began.
Foreign forces are due to hand over responsibility for security to their Afghan counterparts at the end of 2014.
Source: BBC

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11 killed as Black Hawk downed in Afghanistan: NATO


A NATO Black Hawk helicopter came down in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing seven American soldiers and four Afghans, the military said, as Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility.
The four Afghans included three members of the security forces and a civilian interpreter, NATO's US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.
"The cause of the crash is under investigation," it said, adding that the helicopter was a UH-60 Black Hawk. The statement gave no further details.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yusuf Ahmadi told AFP: "Our mujahideen (holy warriors) shot down an ISAF helicopter in Chenarto area of Shah Wali Kot district in Kandahar province at around 11:00 am (0630 GMT)."
He said a rocket-propelled grenade had been used against the helicopter.
"The helicopter was destroyed and all the crew and soldiers inside were killed," Ahmadi said.
"The NATO helicopter was hit by a Taliban rocket in Khashir area of Chenarto village in Shah Wali Kot district this morning," a local official who requested anonymity told AFP.
The area had been cleared of Taliban in a push by NATO and Afghan forces in 2010, but the insurgents had become active in the district again, district governor Obaidullah said.
"Taliban have been active in Chenarto village since the beginning of this year. Afghan and foreign forces have had frequent clashes with the Taliban in this district since the beginning of this year," said Obaidullah, who uses just one name.
The ISAF statement did not use its normal phrasing for a simple helicopter crash, which includes the line that no enemy activity was reported in the area.
Helicopter crashes are fairly frequent in Afghanistan, where the 130,000-strong NATO mission relies heavily on air transport.
Last August, an American Chinook was shot down by the Taliban near Kabul, killing eight Afghans and 30 Americans, including 22 Navy SEALs from the same unit that killed Osama bin Laden in neighbouring Pakistan earlier that year.
It was the deadliest single incident for American troops in 10 years of war in Afghanistan.
On March 16, a Turkish helicopter crashed into a house on the outskirts of Kabul, killing 12 Turkish soldiers and two Afghan civilians.
The deaths of the seven Americans come just a week after six others were killed by their local Afghan colleagues in so-called green-on-blue attacks, eroding trust between foreign troops and the Afghans they work with.
NATO's International Security Assistance Force said last month that attacks in the second quarter of this year were 11 percent higher than in the same period last year.
The month of June alone saw the highest number of attacks in nearly two years, with more than 100 assaults a day across the country, including firefights and roadside bombings, the US-led coalition said.
Civilians continue to bear the brunt of the war, with more than 40 killed on Tuesday in a series of suicide attacks and homemade bomb blasts across the country in the bloodiest day for ordinary Afghans this year.
NATO troops fighting the insurgency by Taliban Islamists are scheduled to leave Afghanistan gradually and hand over responsibility for national security to Afghan forces by the end of 2014.