Helicopter crash

Officials from NATO on Saturday confirmed the deaths of 31 US troops and seven Afghan soldiers when a helicopter crashed during fighting with Taliban insurgents.

NATO spokesman Tim James confirmed the death toll after details of the crash on Friday night were announced by Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Twenty-five of the dead were US Navy SEALs, American television network ABC News reported.

James would not comment on whether the Chinook helicopter was shot down, confirming only that there had been enemy activity at the time of the crash.

In a statement, Taliban representatives claimed that they had shot the aircraft down with a rocket-propelled grenade.

Mohammad Haleem Fedai, provincial governor of the Maidan Wardak province, west of Kabul, said the helicopter had crashed in a valley that had been held by insurgents.

Ground investigation into crash

Coalition and Afghan forces had been engaged in an operation against rebels in the area, Fedai said, and eight insurgents were killed in the fighting.

Fedai added that coalition forces had cordoned off the area for investigation.

An International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) spokesman said recovery operations were underway and the circumstances of the crash were being investigated.

US President Barack Obama paid tribute to dead, stating that the deaths were "a reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices made by the men and women of our military and their families."

US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta called their courage "exemplary, as was their determination to make this a safer world for their countries and for their fellow citizens," he said in a statement.

"We will stay the course to complete that mission, for which they and all who have served and lost their lives in Afghanistan have made the ultimate sacrifice."

Shock and sympathy

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle expressed shock and offered the families of those killed his "deepest heartfelt sympathy."

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the force was "determined to stay the course," despite the deaths.

About 140,000 foreign soldiers are currently stationed in Afghanistan, around 100,000 of them from the US. All foreign forces are scheduled to leave by the end of 2014.

Chinook helicopters are widely used to transport large numbers of troops, as well as supplies, around the war zone in Afghanistan.

The crash means that at least 375 foreign troops have been killed in Afghanistan this year, based on figures kept by the independent monitor icasualties.org and the Reuters news agency.

Author: Richard Connor (AFP, dpa, Reuters)
Editor: Kyle James