ISAF helicopter crashes in Baghlan operation

KABUL) helicopter crashed during a predawn operation in the Borka district of northern Baghlan province on Friday, an official said.

Abdul Jabbar, the district chief, told Pajhwok Afghan News the copter went down during an operation aimed to detain an insurgent commander in Dahan Alif village.

The wreckage was airlifted from the scene by other aircraft, according to the official, who said a Taliban commander named Sharab was detained along with three associates.  

Approached for comments, the ISAF media office said: “We can confirm a coalition aircraft conducted a hard landing in northern Afghanistan today. There were no casualties and the aircraft has been recovered.”

It added there were no reports of insurgent activity in the area at the time of the incident. ISAF officials were conducting an assessment into the hard landing to determine the cause of the incident.

Bu a Taliban spokesman, meanwhile, claimed shooting down the aircraft. The group’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said 28 US soldiers had been killed in the incident.

Resident Juma Quli said he heard helicopter-borne NATO troops asking people through loudspeakers not to come out of their homes during the raid.

An hour later, he said, the area was jolted by an explosion. In the morning, he learnt the blast had resulted from the chopper crash.

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