ISAF confirms US copter crash in Afghanistan

KABUL: U.S. and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) officials have confirmed US helicopter crash on Friday night, killing 30 U.S. soldiers, an interpreter and seven Afghans.

"ISAF is still assessing the circumstances that resulted in these deaths and recovery operations are currently underway," the U.S. Embassy in Kabul said in a statement.


International Security helicopter crashed during a battle with the Taliban in Afghanistan, killing 30 U.S. soldiers, an interpreter and seven Afghans, the Afghan president said on Saturday, the deadliest single incident for foreign troops in 10 years of war.

The Taliban quickly claimed to have shot down the helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade.

In Washington, a U.S. official said the helicopter was thought to have been shot down. The Pentagon has said the cause of the crash is being investigated.

A U.S. official said some of the dead Americans were members of the Navy's special forces SEAL Team 6 -- the unit that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in May in Pakistan, but that none of the dead were part of the bin Laden raid.

The crash was the deadliest incident of the war for foreign troops. In April 2005, another CH-47 Chinook crashed, killing15 U.S. servicemen and three civilian contractors. Another Chinook crash in June of the same year killed 17 U.S. troops. (Reuters)