One Killed in Attack on NATO Helicopter in Afghanistan

Soldiers assist a NATO soldier wounded by an IED explosion in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan, 12 Oct 2010

NATO says Afghan insurgents fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a military helicopter in northeastern Kunar province Tuesday, killing one person and wounding eight others.

The alliance says the Chinook helicopter carrying 26 people had just landed at a military base and was being unloaded when the grenade landed in the cargo bay.

The attack killed an Afghan interpreter and wounded seven NATO service members and an Afghan border police officer.

A man claimed to be a Taliban spokesman said the group carried out the attack.

In other violence Tuesday, NATO says one of its soldiers was killed in a roadside bombing in southern Afghanistan.

In eastern Paktika province, an insurgent rocket hit a civilian car, killing at least six people, while in neighboring Paktia province, a joint Afghan-coalition force captured a Taliban leader and two of his associates.

NATO says the captured men were involved in ambush operations against coalition convoys and checkpoints, as well as in facilitating suicide bombers and repairing damaged improvised explosive devices.

Meanwhile, the White House promised a full and transparent probe into the death of a British aid worker kidnapped by the Taliban.

British officials said Monday Linda Norgrove may have been accidentally killed by a U.S. grenade during a rescue mission.

And Italy said it will begin a "gradual withdrawal" of its troops from Afghanistan in mid-2011. Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told La Republica newspaper the withdrawal will be conducted in coordination with Italy's allies and should be completed by 2014.

Italy has about 3,400 soldiers in Afghanistan, mostly in the west.


Some information for this report was provided by Reuters.