NATO copter shot down in Afghanistan, 31 U.S. troops killed, many of them navy seals, also eight Afghan troops killed in the helicopter crash. - Deadliest incident for USA in the nearly 10-year-old war

.
Washington Post -
NATO copter shot down; dozens of U.S. troops killed -
By Kevin Sieff and Sayed Salahuddin -
Saturday, August 6, 2011 -


NATO copter shot down; dozens of U.S. troops killed


Some excerpts :

KABUL — A NATO helicopter was shot down during an overnight operation against the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan, a U.S. official said. The crash killed 31 U.S. service members and eight Afghan troops, according to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, making it the deadliest incident for the coalition in the nearly 10-year-old war.

The U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter, said the aircraft was most likely brought down by a rocket-propelled grenade and that many of the dead were Navy SEALs. The Taliban asserted responsibility for the crash, which occurred in Wardak province, just west of the capital, Kabul.

Karzai said in a statement that the Chinook aircraft had been operating in an area of heavy insurgent activity.

Saturday’s crash comes during a surge of violence across large swaths of Afghanistan, particularly in the east, which has become a flash point in the conflict as American troops prepare for a phased withdrawal from the country. The incident threatened to shake confidence in NATO’s air power — a key asset in the war and a important element of combat support offered to Afghans, who lack an air force of their own.

Residents of Sayedabad district in Wardak who were awake for an early morning Ramadan prayer reported hearing a rocket-propelled grenade being fired and then a loud explosion. Flames lit the night sky, they said.

“Then American forces began searching houses and blocked the roads of the village,” said Sana Gal, 35, a resident of Tangi, a village a few hundred yards from the crash site.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said an insurgent shot down the helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade after the conclusion of a firefight in which eight Taliban fighters were killed.

.