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NATO Investigates Deadly Afghan Helicopter Crash


A US Marine tries to shelter from the dust as a Chinook helicopter arrives to pick up supplies at Forward Operating Base Edi in the Helmand Province of southern Afghanistan (File photo)
A US Marine tries to shelter from the dust as a Chinook helicopter arrives to pick up supplies at Forward Operating Base Edi in the Helmand Province of southern Afghanistan (File photo)

NATO is investigating Taliban claims that they shot down a U.S. army helicopter in central Afghanistan killing 38 people, including elite U.S. special forces.

Fighting continued in Wardak province Sunday where the Chinook CH-47 transport helicopter went down late Friday. Thirty U.S. troops, including Navy SEALs special forces, died in the crash along with seven Afghan commandos and an interpreter.

The Taliban is claiming responsibility for the attack. Local Afghan government forces say the helicopter crashed after being hit by a rocket. The crash took place following a U.S. led raid against a Taliban-controlled compound in which coalition forces killed eight militants.

Meanwhile in other violence, NATO says four service members were killed Sunday in two separate insurgent attacks in southern Afghanistan and the country's east.

Also, the office of the French president says two French soldiers were killed and five others wounded in a clash with insurgents in Afghanistan's northeastern Tagab Valley.

The office says Sunday's deaths brings to 72 the number of French soldiers killed since the start of the war.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.

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