NATO helicopter crashed in Wardak, Eastern Afghanistan.
[googlead tip=”patrat_mic” aliniat=”dreapta”]The Taliban insurgents who shot down a 38 elite troops Navy SEALs helicopter in Afghanistan were killed.
U.S. General, John Allen said Wednesday that NATO international troops found out where militants were hiding and launched an air strike on the place.
Allen, who is chief commander of allied forces in Afghanistan ISAF (International Security Assistance Force), made the statements during a press conference held in Washington.
The NATO-led ISAF statement said also that, during allied forces air strike, the Taliban leader Mullah Mohibullah and the insurgent who is believed to have fired the rocket that broke CH-47 Chinook helicopter were killed.
[googlead tip=”vertical_mic”]According to MSNBC, NATO reported that the air strike was called in once the insurgents were tracked to a wooded area, and that no civilians were harmed in the attack.
Last Friday night, a helicopter carrying US commando troops was shot down by Taliban rockets. 38 people, among which at least 20 soldiers from the elite Navy SEAL, unit that killed terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, have died after the NATO machine crashed in eastern Afghanistan, in an area controlled by Islamist militants .
There were also seven Afghan soldiers killed during the attack.
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The Taliban have said they were responsible for shooting down the Navy SEALs with a rocket-propelled grenade.
Monday, an Afghan official said:
“We can now confirm that the helicopter was shot down and it was a trap of a Taliban commander.”
The helicopter was attacked from both sides of a valley, the only way of access from Sayd Abad district to Wardak, which were controlled by the Taliban.
“The Taliban knew the route the helicopter will go on,” official said, adding: “the rebels have taken positions on both sides of the valley, in the mountains, and when the helicopter approached, they attacked with rockets and other modern weapons”.
[googlead tip=”lista_mare” aliniat=”stanga”]Saturday, two US officials confirmed , under anonymity, that aboard attacked helicopter were 22 members of SEAL Team, the secret Navy commando unit that killed Osama bin Laden in May 2011. Three Air Force air controllers, seven Afghan soldiers, a dog and its trainer, an interpreter and the crew belonging to the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment were also aboard the helicopter.
It is not known if among the Saturday dead soldiers were those who took part of al-Qaeda leader killing mission in early May 2011, but official sources said it was “unlikely” to be about the same soldiers.
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Sources said that shooting down of the Chinook helicopter with the Navy SEALs on Friday night is the largest ever recorded loss of lives of SEAL Team Six unit, known as The Naval Special Warfare Development Group, and the single deadliest loss for US forces since the war began 10 years ago.
Tuesday, President Barack Obama visited Dover Air Force Base to pay his respects to those soldiers who had died and whose remains were flown home in two C-17 cargo planes, according to ABC 7 News in San Francisco.
