Soldiers Missing In Afghanistan

Small Unit Unaccounted For Since Deadly Helicopter Crash

(CBS/AP) 
CBS News Correspondent Lara Logan reports that the province in northeast Afghanistan where the crash occurred is extremely mountainous and is known to be hostile to American troops. However, there has been some success in turning the feelings of the local people by paving roads and building mosques in the area.

The rescue team was still there Friday, recovering parts of the chopper, U.S. military spokeswoman Sgt. Marina Evans said.

At the Pentagon in Washington, Lt. Gen. James Conway, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it appears an unguided rocket-propelled grenade hit the chopper. He called it "a pretty lucky shot against a helicopter."

He said it appeared the troops on board died during the crash and not during fighting on the ground afterward.

Only eight months ago, Afghan and U.S. officials were hailing a relatively peaceful presidential election as a sign that the Taliban rebellion was finished.

But remnants of the former regime have stepped up attacks, and there are disturbing signs that foreign fighters — including some linked to al Qaeda — might be making a new push to sow an Iraq-style insurgency.

Afghan officials say the fighters have used the porous border with Pakistan to enter the country, and have called on the Pakistani government do more to stop them.

The loss of the helicopter follows three months of unprecedented fighting that has killed about 465 suspected insurgents, 43 Afghan police and soldiers, 125 civilians, and 45 U.S. troops, including the 16 killed in Tuesday's crash.

The crash was the second of a Chinook helicopter in Afghanistan this year. On April 6, 15 U.S. service members and three American civilians were killed when their chopper went down in a sandstorm while returning to the main U.S. base at Bagram.

The dead in this week's crash comprised seven soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), Hunter Army Airfield, Ga., one from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), Fort Campbell, Ky., and eight Navy SEALs assigned to units in Norfolk, Va., and San Diego, the U.S. military said in a statement.

"The remains are being identified. The service members' names will be released once their next-of-kin have been notified," the statement said.