Enemy Fire Believed To Be Cause

Seven servicemembers assigned to NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan are dead after a Chinook helicopter flying an ISAF mission went down in Helmand province near Kajaki last night. Officials believe the helicopter was felled by a rocket-propelled grenade.

"There will be a full investigation,” said Maj. John Thomas, a spokesman for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force. "We will try to determine everything that happened and to fully investigate the site."

The Associated Press reports five US soldiers, a Canadian and a Briton were onboard the stricken helo.

A unit responding to the scene of the crash was reportedly attacked by enemy combatants. The patrol called for an air strike to eliminate that threat, according to NATO sources.

Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi claimed insurgents were behind the attack late Wednesday, saying "our brothers in Helmand" had brought down the heavy transport helicopter. "The helicopter burst into flames in the sky and then crashed."

The last helicopter downing in Afghanistan was in February. As ANN reported, eight coalition personnel were killed, and 14 others were wounded when a coalition CH-47 Chinook helicopter had a sudden, unexplained loss of power and control and crashed in eastern Afghanistan. Officials have blamed that accident on engine failure.

Two Chinooks were shot down over Afghanistan in a single day in December 2005, six months after another Chinook was downed as it was landing in the eastern part of the country.

FMI: www.nato.int