2 Soldiers Killed in Pakistan Crash
By KATHY GANNON
Associated Press Writer
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- A U.S. helicopter supporting a commando raid in Afghanistan crashed early Saturday in Pakistan, killing two U.S. servicemen -- the first American combat-related casualties of the campaign.
The Pentagon and officials in Pakistan said the crash near Dalbandin air base, about 50 miles from the Afghan border, was an accident, while the Taliban claimed to have shot the plane down.
"It was hit inside Afghanistan and landed in Pakistan just across the border," said Sohail Shaeen, spokesman for the Taliban embassy in Islamabad. "The United States is calling it an accident because they don't want to hurt the morale of their troops."
There was no immediate comment from the Pentagon to the Taliban's claims. A brief statement said the identities of the dead would be withheld until the families were notified. President Bush, in Shanghai, China, for the APEC summit, expressed his sorrow.
"These soldiers will not have died in vain," Bush said. "This is a just cause."
U.S. Defense officials said that in addition to the two deaths at least one person aboard the chopper was injured in the accident.
Pakistan, which is providing the United States with logistical support including access to at least two airports, said the helicopter was backup for U.S. commandos carried out an operation in southern Afghanistan.
"It was an accident," said Gen. Rashid Quereshi, Pakistan army spokesman said. "This helicopter was on standby ... for any rescue attempt if it was needed."
The U.S. special forces, including more than 100 U.S. Army commandos, raided a Taliban garrison near the militia's southern stronghold in Kandahar, and were extracted by helicopter, the Pentagon said. The U.S. forces have since returned to their bases on U.S. warships stationed in the Arabian Sea.
Civilians fleeing air raids in southern Afghanistan reported seeing U.S. troops north of Kandahar.
Noor Mohammed, a Kandahar resident who arrived in southwest Pakistan early Saturday, said U.S. special forces battled Taliban soldiers at Qila Jadeed, a Taliban military outpost about 20 miles northwest of the city.
According to the Taliban's official news agency, Bakhtar, four U.S. helicopters landed at Kohi Baba, a mountain region northwest of Kandahar.
The area, which had been pounded by U.S. bombs, was empty, the news agency reported. It further said that U.S. special forces left without encountering Taliban.
On Friday, the Taliban's ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, said he had no information about U.S. troops in Afghanistan. But a spokesman for the embassy, Sohail Shaheen, challenged the United States to send 100,000 soldiers.
"Then it can be a fight between our soldiers and theirs," Shaheen said.
The crash brings to three the number of U.S. troops killed since the U.S.-led military campaign began two weeks ago with airstrikes aimed at terror suspect Osama bin Laden and the regime that is protecting him. A master sergeant was killed last week in a forklift accident while constructing an air strip the Gulf state of Qatar.
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