US military rejects Taliban's claim on shooting down chopper in Afghanistan

The US military in Afghanistan on Monday termed the Taliban claim about the shooting down of army helicopter in southern Afghanistan as groundless and flatly rejected it.

"There is no evidence to prove the involvement of hostile fire in helicopter crash. We have no evidence to support the claim of Taliban," spokesman of the US army here James Yonts told reporters at a news conference.

A US army CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed in Deh Chopan district of Zabul province Sunday morning killing all five on board.

Hours after the incident, Taliban's spokesman Mufti Abdul Latif Hakimi claimed from undisclosed location that militants loyal to the former fundamentalist regime shot down the chopper in Deh Chopan of Zabul province.

"Right now we cannot say that the crash took place because of hostile fire," the US army spokesman noted.

However, he added that an investigating team from the United States would arrive within a couple of days to probe into the cause of the crash.

Three US military helicopters have crashed since beginning this year.

Deh Chopan, a stronghold of Taliban in south Afghanistan has been the scene of increasing insurgency since last year and currently clash is going on between the US-backed Afghan troops and Taliban-linked militias there.

Source: Xinhua