British press now increasingly reporting on the balloon as being part of the incident. Guardian quotes ' a severed balloon..'
The balloon was severed from its mooring in the incident, he said, without providing further details.
An Aghan security guard who witnessed the incident told Associated Press that the helicopter appeared to strike the balloon as it landed at the Nato base.
Najibullah, the Afghan security guard who witnessed the incident, said the helicopter “hit the cable of the security balloon over the base. It seemed like the cable was turned around the helicopter rotor,” he said.