Helicopter downed in Afghanistan

Helicopter downed in Afghanistan

A military helicopter carrying civilian contractors has been shot down in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, Nato officials say.

Officials told Al Jazeera that "possibly more than two" passengers were killed in the crash in Sangin district on Tuesday.
The number of casualties could not be independently confirmed.
Fazlul Haq, the district chief of Sangin, said he saw the helicopter before it crashed.
"It was in the sky on fire and then went down," he told a Reuters news agency reporter.
The Taliban, which has been confronting foreign troops and the Afghan government in areas across the country, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Helmand is the site of an offensive by around 4,000 US soldiers backed by hundreds of Nato and Afghan forces aimed at driving out the Taliban from its strongholds.
The operation is the biggest by foreign troops since they removed the Taliban from power in 2001.
PHOTO CAPTION
A Chinook helicopter arrives at a base at Lashkar Gah in Helmand.
Al-Jazeera

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