Skip to main content
Afghanistan - US

Taliban laid trap for US helicopter, official claims

A helicopter that crashed killing 30 US troops in Afghanistan was shot down after the Taliban laid a trap to lure US forces into the area, according to an anonymous Afghan government official said Monday.

Reuters
Advertising

The official said a Taliban commander, called Qari Tahir, lured US forces to the scene by telling them there was a Taliban meeting taking place there.



President Hamid Karzai's
US-backed government "thinks this was a retaliation attack for the killing of Osama Bin Laden", he told the AFP news agency, adding that four Pakistani nationals helped Tahir carry out the strike.

He said the intelligence also showed that the Chinook helicopter was brought down by multiple shots including "modern weapons" without giving further details.

The helicopter was attacked late Friday from either side of a valley, the only route to the Taliban-dominated Sayd Abad district in Wardak province where the attack happened late Friday, the official said.

"The Taliban knew which route the helicopter would take," he added. "That's the only route, so they took position on the either side of the valley on mountains and as the helicopter approached, they attacked it with rockets and other modern weapons. It was brought down by multiple shots.

Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning

Keep up to date with international news by downloading the RFI app

Share :
Page not found

The content you requested does not exist or is not available anymore.