17 Feared Dead In Afghan Crash
A senior military official believes the 17 American service members aboard a U.S. Chinook helicopter that crashed in Afghanistan on Tuesday were believed to have been killed, CBS News has learned.
The senior Pentagon official spoke on condition of anonymity after the military earlier said the U.S. Chinook helicopter was likely shot down by hostile fire.
The Chinook helicopter was one of four carrying members of a special operations unit into an operation against al Qaeda and Taliban fighters in the rugged mountains near the border with Pakistan when a second helicopter reported seeing an explosion, reports CBS News National Security Correspondent David Martin.
The Taliban claimed it attacked the aircraft and a U.S. military statement said: "Initial reports indicate the crash may have been caused by hostile fire."
The chopper hit a mountain and rolled down a steep slope into a ravine, meaning that not only are 17 special operations force lives at stake, but the small team of American commandos on patrol that called for help might have suffered, Martin reports. The commandos have not been heard from since yesterday before the crash.
With more than 17 probable deaths, this incident could shape up to be the worst loss special operations forces have suffered since the war on terror began.
The coalition and Afghan troops "quickly moved into position around the crash to block any enemy movement toward or away from the site" and coalition support aircraft were overhead, the statement said.
It will take an investigation to determine whether or not this helicopter was, in fact, shot down, Martin said. If it was, this would be the first known instance of a helicopter being brought down by enemy fire. And if that means that the Taliban has figured out a way to shoot down American helicopters, this would be a major new threat, because helicopters are a primary means of transportation along those mountains.
The U.S.-backed mujahedeen war against Soviet occupiers in Afghanistan in the 1980s finally turned when the Afghan fighters figured out how to shoot down Soviet aircraft.
"Coalition troops on the ground in this area came in contact with enemy forces and requested additional forces to be inserted into this operation," U.S. military spokesman Col. James Yonts told a news conference. "That is why there was an aircraft, that is how it arrived on the battlefield."
A Pentagon official told CBS News, "the aircraft, as it was dropping off those personnel, crashed, so we know it was taking fire. Whether that caused it to crash we do not know yet, but it was under indirect and direct fire."
The U.S. military knew from its contacts with local leaders and residents that "terrorist organizations" were operating in the area of the crash, Yonts said.
"That did not come as a surprise to us, this area has been known to harbor those terrorist organizations or personnel," he said.
Provincial Gov. Asadullah Wafa told The Associated Press the Taliban downed the aircraft with a rocket. He gave no other details.
Purported Taliban spokesman Mullah Latif Hakimi telephoned the AP before news of the crash was released and said the rebels shot the helicopter down.
He said the rebels filmed the attack and would release the video to the media. He also claimed that rebels killed seven U.S. soldiers in an attack in the same area, although U.S. spokeswomen Lt. Cindy Moore said no such attack had been made on an American convoy.
Hakimi often calls news organizations to claim responsibility for attacks on behalf of the Taliban. His information has sometimes proven untrue or exaggerated, and his exact tie to the group's leadership is unclear.
"This is a tragic event for all of us, and our hearts and prayers go out to the families, loved ones and men still fighting in the area," said U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Greg Champion, deputy commanding general of Combined Joint Task Force-76. "This incident will only further our resolve to defeat the enemies of peace."
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 twin-rotor Chinook — an all-purpose cargo helicopter — was one of the workhorses of the Vietnam War, where it was first used, and has been in service in all wars since. It able to lift large loads of fuel or ammunition, or retrieve smaller helicopters.
It has a crew of four, including two pilots, a flight engineer and a crew chief, who man M60 machine guns to protect it.
The U.S. military has launched operations in several areas along the border with Pakistan. Those offensives target remnants of al Qaeda and the hard-line Taliban movement, as well as foreign fighters using high mountain passes to cross the largely uncontrolled border from Pakistan.
Tuesday's crash came after three months of unprecedented fighting that has killed about 465 suspected insurgents, 29 U.S. troops, 43 Afghan police and soldiers, and 125 civilians.
The violence has left much of Afghanistan off-limits to aid workers and has heightened concerns that the war here is escalating into a conflict on the scale of that in Iraq.
Afghan and U.S. officials have predicted the situation will deteriorate in the lead-up to legislative elections in September — the next key step toward democracy after a quarter-century of war.