KANDAHAR - A NATO Black Hawk helicopter came down in southern Afghanistan Thursday killing seven American soldiers and four Afghans, the military said.
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 insurgents claimed responsibility. Taliban spokesman Qari Yusuf Ahmadi 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 Taleban rocket in Khashir area of Chenarto village in Shah Wali Kot district this morning,”a local official who requested anonymity told local media. The area had been cleared of Taleban in a push by NATO and Afghan forces in 2010, but the insurgents had become active in the district again, district governor Obaidullah said.
Last August, an American Chinook was shot down by the Taleban 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.
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.