Sensible Garage
5th Dec 2006, 15:25
Meanwhile, Afghanistan's Taliban rebels yesterday said they had shot down a Nato-chartered helicopter missing in the south of the country with eight people on board. The civilian helicopter left Kandahar with supplies for bases around Uruzgan province on Saturday, but later lost contact. There were no personnel from the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on the helicopter and the cause of the crash in northern Kandahar province was still unknown, according to an ISAF statement. But eight crew members were aboard, ISAF added, without specifying their nationalities. The Afghan interior ministry said the helicopter belonged to US security firm Dyncorp A purported Taliban spokesman said the Islamists had downed the helicopter using a surface-to-air rocket. Yusuf Ahmadi said "religious students" had "shot down the craft with a single rocket". ISAF could not confirm or deny the statement. "Until we examine the helicopter, we cannot give any information on what occurred," said Andre Salloum, an ISAF spokesman in Kandahar. The helicopter had been located by the force but "bad weather conditions" had prevented soldiers from getting to crash site yesterday, according to another spokesman, Richard Kusak, in Kabul.