erinmoran
03-04-2002, 06:42 AM
WASHINGTON (March 4) - At least six Americans were killed and an unknown number wounded when their helicopter was shot down over eastern Afghanistan, Pentagon officials said Monday.
''We have some small numbers of U.S. troops killed,'' in the downing of the MH-47 Chinook helicopter, which occurred early Sunday night Washington time, Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said Monday.
It was not clear how many of the soldiers died in the crash and how many were killed by small-arms fire in fighting that broke out after the crash, Clarke said.
She said military officials did not yet know what type of enemy fire brought down the helicopter, nor whether a search-and-rescue operation had been completed.
The helicopter, normally used to ferry supplies or troops, was downed during an assault on suspected al-Qaida and Taliban fighters that the Pentagon says were regrouping south of Gardez.
It was the first American aircraft taken down by enemy fire in the war, following accidental crashes of other craft since the anti-terror campaign opened in October.
The incident came as the largest coalition force assembled so far in the campaign - some 1,500 from America, Afghanistan and at least six other nations - engaged an estimated several hundred al-Qaida and Taliban in intense fire fights backed by airstrikes.
Clarke called the fighting ''the largest military operation we have been engaged in thus far and in combat, the most loss of life.''
About three dozen U.S. soldiers have been injured since the operation began Friday, she said.
More than 1,000 U.S. troops are involved in the operation against opposing forces believed to be mostly al-Qaida, she said.
''There's been some very fierce resistance on the part of al-Qaida,'' Clarke said. ''These are the ones who have clearly chosen to fight it out.''
Before the downing of the helicopter, the casualty toll of the operation started Friday stood at one American and three Afghans killed and an undisclosed number injured.
Previously, the most deadly incident for Americans in the war came Jan. 9 when six Marines were killed in the crash of a tanker plane into a mountain in Pakistan.
In the latest fighting, U.S. Chinook helicopters were ferrying in supplies to American and other troops in the hills following the start of the coalition ground attack in the area. In addition to allied Afghan fighters and U.S. Special Forces, troops from Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany and Norway were participating.
The assault was the largest joint U.S.-Afghan military operation of the terrorism war. Pro-U.S. Afghan troops approached the hide-outs from three directions to isolate the fighters and prevent them from escaping.
Safi Ullah, a member of the Gardez town council, or shura, said the first stage of the offensive was designed to cut the road from Shah-e-Kot to trap al-Qaida and Taliban forces in the mountains. He said the plan also involved setting up checkpoints to prevent them from getting out.
Pakistan has closed its border with eastern Afghanistan and deployed extra army units and members of the Khasadar tribal militia to catch any who try to cross the frontier and filter into its Northwest Frontier Province.
AP-NY-03-04-02 1026EST
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''We have some small numbers of U.S. troops killed,'' in the downing of the MH-47 Chinook helicopter, which occurred early Sunday night Washington time, Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said Monday.
It was not clear how many of the soldiers died in the crash and how many were killed by small-arms fire in fighting that broke out after the crash, Clarke said.
She said military officials did not yet know what type of enemy fire brought down the helicopter, nor whether a search-and-rescue operation had been completed.
The helicopter, normally used to ferry supplies or troops, was downed during an assault on suspected al-Qaida and Taliban fighters that the Pentagon says were regrouping south of Gardez.
It was the first American aircraft taken down by enemy fire in the war, following accidental crashes of other craft since the anti-terror campaign opened in October.
The incident came as the largest coalition force assembled so far in the campaign - some 1,500 from America, Afghanistan and at least six other nations - engaged an estimated several hundred al-Qaida and Taliban in intense fire fights backed by airstrikes.
Clarke called the fighting ''the largest military operation we have been engaged in thus far and in combat, the most loss of life.''
About three dozen U.S. soldiers have been injured since the operation began Friday, she said.
More than 1,000 U.S. troops are involved in the operation against opposing forces believed to be mostly al-Qaida, she said.
''There's been some very fierce resistance on the part of al-Qaida,'' Clarke said. ''These are the ones who have clearly chosen to fight it out.''
Before the downing of the helicopter, the casualty toll of the operation started Friday stood at one American and three Afghans killed and an undisclosed number injured.
Previously, the most deadly incident for Americans in the war came Jan. 9 when six Marines were killed in the crash of a tanker plane into a mountain in Pakistan.
In the latest fighting, U.S. Chinook helicopters were ferrying in supplies to American and other troops in the hills following the start of the coalition ground attack in the area. In addition to allied Afghan fighters and U.S. Special Forces, troops from Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany and Norway were participating.
The assault was the largest joint U.S.-Afghan military operation of the terrorism war. Pro-U.S. Afghan troops approached the hide-outs from three directions to isolate the fighters and prevent them from escaping.
Safi Ullah, a member of the Gardez town council, or shura, said the first stage of the offensive was designed to cut the road from Shah-e-Kot to trap al-Qaida and Taliban forces in the mountains. He said the plan also involved setting up checkpoints to prevent them from getting out.
Pakistan has closed its border with eastern Afghanistan and deployed extra army units and members of the Khasadar tribal militia to catch any who try to cross the frontier and filter into its Northwest Frontier Province.
AP-NY-03-04-02 1026EST
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