# Helicopter Crash Kills 31 U.S. Soldiers & 7 ANA - Aug/06/2011



## Bruce Monkhouse (6 Aug 2011)

Helicopter crash kills 31 U.S. soldiers: 


http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCATRE7750UW20110806
Sat Aug 6, 2011 5:43am EDT  Print This Article[-] Text [+] KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Saturday 31 U.S. soldiers and 7 Afghan troops had been killed in a helicopter crash overnight, one of the worst incidents of its kind in the 10-year-old war in Afghanistan.

The statement from the presidential palace said the helicopter had crashed in central Maidan Wardak province, just to the west of the capital, Kabul. The Taliban claimed to have shot down the troop-carrying helicopter.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force confirmed a helicopter had crashed but gave no further details.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Paul Tait)


http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/08/06/afghanistan-helicopter-crash.html

NATO helicopter crashes in Afghanistan

Afghan president says 31 U.S. troops, 7 Afghans killed

CBC News 
Posted: Aug 6, 2011 5:42 AM ET 


Afghan President Hamid Karzai says 31 U.S. troops and seven Afghan soldiers were killed in the crash of a NATO helicopter in eastern Afghanistan overnight.

NATO says it's investigating a helicopter incident in the Savd Abad district of Wardak province but has not confirmed a crash or released details.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid says insurgents downed a U.S. military helicopter in the area after the aircraft fired on a house where Taliban fighers were gathering Friday night.

Mujahid says eight insurgents died in the incident.


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## The Bread Guy (6 Aug 2011)

Holy f@#$%^&*K - condolences to the families, colleagues and friends of the fallen....  



> An International Security Assistance Force helicopter crashed in eastern Afghanistan today, and recovery operations are underway.
> 
> ISAF is still in the process of assessing the circumstances to determine the facts of the incident, reporting indicates there was enemy activity in the area.
> 
> Additional details will be released as appropriate.


Source:  Initial ISAF statement, 6 Aug 11



> President Hamid Karzai was grieved by the deaths of 31 American Special Force troops after a helicopter they were on board crashed in a province.
> 
> The chopper was reportedly crashed in Maidan Wardak province, killing 31 US Special Forces including its crew members.
> 
> ...


Source:  AFG presidential statement, 6 Aug 11



> New reports from Wardag province indicate that a heavy clash unfolded last night at about 11:00 pm local time in Syedabad district of the province between Mujahideen and the invaders resulting from the enemy’s raid on the civilians which was faced with sterner resistances by Mujahideen who fought back the enemy and shot one of the invaders’ helicopters with rockets during the fighting.
> 
> Mujahideen officials said the enemy helicopter fell down Syedabad district killing 38 enemy troops including 31 US-NATO invading troops and 7 of their puppets.
> 
> ...



Source:  Taliban's Voice of Jihad English-language web page, 6 Aug 11 (screen capture of statement also attached as PDF if you don't want to link to a terrorist web site)

_- edited to add Karzai statement - _


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## midget-boyd91 (6 Aug 2011)

CTV is quoting a "Senior U.S Official" saying that the aircraft was shot down by hostile fire.
Condolences to the families and friends. This is a sad day.

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20110806/nato-chopper-crash-110806/


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## tomahawk6 (6 Aug 2011)

31 spec ops troops dead in Afghan helo crash
 By Solomon Moore - The Associated Press
 Posted : Saturday Aug 6, 2011 7:52:27 EDT

KABUL, Afghanistan — A helicopter crash in Afghanistan’s eastern Wardak province killed 31 U.S. special operation troops and seven Afghan soldiers, the country’s president said Saturday. It was the highest number of American casualties recorded in a single incident in the decade-long war.

President Hamid Karzai sent his condolences to President Obama, according to a statement issued by his office.

“A NATO helicopter crashed last night in Wardak province,” Karzai said in the statement, adding that 31 American special operations troops were killed. “President Karzai expressed his deep condolences because of this incident and expressed his sympathy to Barack Obama.”

The Taliban claimed to have brought the helicopter down with a rocket attack, but they have been known to make exaggerated claims in the past.

NATO confirmed the overnight crash and said there “was enemy activity in the area.” But it said it was still investigating the cause. The alliance was conducting a recovery operation at the site, it said, without releasing details or a casualty figure.

“We are aware of an incident involving a helicopter in eastern Afghanistan,” said Air Force Capt. Justin Brockhoff, a NATO spokesman. “We are in the process of accessing the facts.” The helicopter was a twin-rotor Chinook, which are used for transport, said an official at NATO headquarters in Brussels, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.

The helicopter crashed in the Sayd Abad district of Wardak province, said a provincial government spokesman, Shahidullah Shahid. The volatile region borders the province of Kabul where the Afghan capital is located and is known for its strong Taliban presence.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement that NATO had attacked a house in Sayd Abad where insurgents were gathering Friday night, killing eight fighters. The Taliban then downed the helicopter. he said.

In June 2005, 16 American troops were killed when a U.S. helicopter crashed in eastern Kunar province after apparently being hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.

Aircraft crashes are relatively frequent in Afghanistan, where insecurity and difficult terrain make air travel essential for coalition forces transporting troops and equipment.

There have been at least 17 coalition and Afghan aircraft crashes in Afghanistan this year. Most of the crashes are attributed to pilot errors, weather conditions or mechanical failures. However, the coalition has confirmed that at least one CH-47F Chinook helicopter was hit by a rocket propelled grenade on July 25, injuring two crewmembers.

Meanwhile, NATO troops attacked a house and inadvertently killed eight members of a family, including women and children, in Helmand province, an Afghan government official said Saturday.

NATO said Taliban fighters fired rocket propelled grenades and small arms at coalition troops during a patrol Friday in the Nad Ali district. The troops fired back, and as the fight escalated an airstrike was called in against the Taliban position, said Brockhoff, the NATO spokesman. He said NATO sent a delegation to meet with local leaders and investigate the incident.

Nad Ali district police chief Shadi Khan said civilians died in the bombardment but that it was unknown how many insurgents were killed.

NATO has come under harsh criticism in the past for accidentally killing civilians during operations against suspected insurgents. However, civilian death tallies by the United Nations show the insurgency is responsible for most war casualties involving non-combatants.

Also in the south, NATO said two coalition service member were killed, one on Friday and another on Saturday. The international alliance did not release further details.

The deaths bring to 334 the number of coalition troops killed this year in Afghanistan, and 11 this month.


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## The Bread Guy (6 Aug 2011)

ABC News' breakdown of the casualties highlighted, via White House bureau:


> A helicopter crash in Afghanistan killed 31 Americans, including as many as 25 Navy SEALs in one of the worst single-day U.S. losses of life since the war began, a senior military official told ABC News early this morning.
> 
> A total of 38 people were on board the Chinook helicopter when it crashed overnight in the eastern Afghan province of Wardak.
> 
> ...


SEALS or not, a huge hit ....


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## Good2Golf (6 Aug 2011)

Thoughts and prayers to the families, friends and colleagues of the SEALs, Nightstalkers and Afghan SF soldiers on board.


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## jollyjacktar (6 Aug 2011)

Not what I want to hear at any time.  My deepest condolences to the families, comrades and friends of the fallen.


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## The Bread Guy (6 Aug 2011)

> Senior U.S. officials have extended condolences to the families of American and Afghan forces lost in an International Security Assistance Force helicopter crash in eastern Afghanistan earlier today.
> 
> Recovery operations are under way, ISAF Joint Command officials said in a statement today, noting that reports indicate there was enemy activity in the area.
> 
> ...


Source:  American Forces Press Service, 6 Aug 11


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## cupper (6 Aug 2011)

It is a sad day, regardless of your views.


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## Tollis (6 Aug 2011)

Condolences to the friends and family's of everyone involved.   Regardless of nationality or race its a sad day for us all.


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## The Bread Guy (7 Aug 2011)

> “On behalf of all Canadians, I offer my deepest condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of the brave U.S. service members and Afghan soldiers who lost their lives today in this terrible incident.
> 
> “This tragedy is a stark reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices that men and women in uniform continue to make in Afghanistan.
> 
> ...


Source:  PM web site, 6 Aug 11


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## observor 69 (7 Aug 2011)

More info on the crash:

US probes Afghanistan special forces helicopter crash

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-14435854


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## ArmyRick (7 Aug 2011)

To the brave US and Afghan soldiers who have paid the ultimate price.


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## gun runner (7 Aug 2011)

A tragic blow to our allies. My condolences to the families of the fallen, their friends, and comrades. Ubique  :yellow:


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## BDTyre (8 Aug 2011)

Whatever happened, it is a horrible loss. Rest in peace.


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## The Bread Guy (8 Aug 2011)

> Thirty eight coalition members were killed on August 6th when a coalition CH-47 crashed while on a mission that targeted a Taliban leader in the Tangi Valley, Sayyidabad district, Wardak province.
> 
> *The helicopter was reportedly fired on by an insurgent rocket-propelled grenade while transporting the U.S. service members and commandos to the scene of an on-going engagement between ISAF and insurgents forces.*
> 
> ...


Source:  ISAF news release, 8 Aug 11


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## PanaEng (8 Aug 2011)

some short bios of the fallen:

http://news.yahoo.com/lives-elite-u-soldiers-become-public-143055213.html

RIP


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## The Bread Guy (8 Aug 2011)

Taliban's take:  see, we're not slowing down.


> Yesterday, the Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate has caused serious casualties to the enemy in a few hour battle taken place in Tangi Dara of Saed abad district, Maidan Wardak province. According to American military sources they have faced huge life loses in the incident in a single day as compare to the past ten years. According to other report a Chinook CH-47 helicopter of American Special Forces has been fallen down, as a result thirty one US and seven domestic soldiers were killed.
> 
> As before the acceptance of huge casualties by spokesmen of Washington’s defense and interior ministries, White House, Bagram and Kabul administration, the administrators of presidential palace accepted the incident at once and submitted their condolence, it is a surprise and matchless happening in itself. If this attempt is taken place through American consultation so it is clear that a change is occurred in American policy regarding to hide such incidents from world community and especially from Americans. Such incidents have taken place a number of times in the past ten years but Americans military officials have not accepted it. What kind of idea and new message they want to convey to the American people by this acknowledgment, that certainty will be later identified. But the conclusion yet become known is that from one hand the reality of emergency landing of their helicopters has been manifested and in the same way it has shown the discipline, heroism and power of Mujahideen that how they can prey the sophisticated helicopters of enemy in an instant attack with out any hesitation in mid night, and that simply convey a message to American people that something is really going on in Afghanistan,
> 
> ...


Source:  Voice of Jihad web page, 8 Aug 11 (usual caveat re:  clicking on a jihadi web site link - full screen capture also downloadable as PDF here)


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## tomahawk6 (8 Aug 2011)

I would like to caution about naming the fallen.DoD has not released the casualty list.Some of the families have gone public but until its published on defenselink its not official. I know I am splitting hairs.NOK is ongoing.Their remains will arrive Tuesday at Dover AFB.


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## The Bread Guy (8 Aug 2011)

McClatchy coverage caveats notwithstanding, am I the only one seeing this (if it is, indeed, being considered) as over-reaction?


> Two Pentagon officials told McClatchy on Monday that an investigation into the helicopter crash that killed 30 American troops would probe whether it's a mistake to send the large, lumbering Chinook helicopter into a Taliban firefight, where it's a target for insurgents.
> 
> As the remains of the 30 troops killed in the military's deadliest incident of the Afghan war were being flown back to the United States, U.S. commanders confirmed that the servicemen were flying to the aid of American troops embroiled in a firefight when an insurgent shot down their helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade.
> 
> ...


Source:  _Stars & Stripes_, 8 Aug 11


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## midget-boyd91 (8 Aug 2011)

Has anyone else taken note of how eerily similar this is to the event in 2005 when a Chinook carrying SEALs was shot down while en route to aid another unit in contact?


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## The Bread Guy (8 Aug 2011)

uncle-midget-Oddball said:
			
		

> Has anyone else taken note of how eerily similar this is to the event in 2005 when a Chinook carrying SEALs was shot down while en route to aid another unit in contact?


You mean Op RED WINGS?  (Usual Wikipedia caveats apply)


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## tomahawk6 (8 Aug 2011)

The focus of the investigation I am afraid will be on the aircrew.Usually special forces are moved by the Nightstalkers 160 SOAR. This aircraft appears to have been a National Guard Chinook which was a few months into its deployment. No US aircraft that I know of can deflect unguided munitions. An RPG is as deadly for an armored vehicle as it is for an aircraft,probably more so.If the bad guys used a MANPAD then that is something else entirely.In any event there will a couple of investigations looking at various aspects of the crash.


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## Good2Golf (8 Aug 2011)

milnews.ca said:
			
		

> McClatchy coverage caveats notwithstanding, am I the only one seeing this (if it is, indeed, being considered) as over-reaction?
> ...
> Source:  _Stars & Stripes_, 8 Aug 11



Just some talking heads making commentary.  

Surprise generally offsets dispersal, i.e. move a team in a single mission vehicle and pass over the ground only once, understanding that loss of the vehicle loses the whole team, or divide the team up over smaller vehicles and run the risk of greater chance of exposure due to multiple machines, but offsetting the risk that a single loss would only result in partial team loss.

Leave it to the professionals to assess the risk based on all available information and plan their mission accordingly.

Regards
G2G


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## midget-boyd91 (9 Aug 2011)

milnews.ca said:
			
		

> You mean Op RED WINGS?  (Usual Wikipedia caveats apply)



Yes.


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## The Bread Guy (9 Aug 2011)

> The secretary of the Navy and chief of naval operations extended condolences to family, friends and fellow service members of the American and Afghan forces lost in an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) helicopter crash in eastern Afghanistan.
> 
> Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus said:
> 
> ...


Source:  U.S. Navy statement, 8 Aug 11


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## The Bread Guy (9 Aug 2011)

> Two C-17s carrying our fallen heroes from Sat's Chinook crash have arrived at Dover AFB, Del.


Source:  Pentgon spokesperson Twitter feed, 9 Aug 11


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## PanaEng (10 Aug 2011)

Swift justice:
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/general-international-forces-killed-taliban-shot-down-us-133027690.html

cheers


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## The Bread Guy (10 Aug 2011)

PanaEng said:
			
		

> Swift justice:
> http://ca.news.yahoo.com/general-international-forces-killed-taliban-shot-down-us-133027690.html


More from ISAF news release:


> Coalition forces killed the Taliban insurgents involved with the recent downing of the CH-47 helicopter, with a precision airstrike in Chak district, Wardak province, yesterday.
> 
> The strike killed Taliban leader Mullah Mohibullah and the insurgent who fired the shot associated with the Aug. 6 downing of the CH-47 helicopter, which resulted in the deaths of 38 Afghan and coalition service members.
> 
> ...


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## PanaEng (10 Aug 2011)

Here are a few more details of the operation
http://news.yahoo.com/happened-night-afghanistan-helicopter-crash-111914547.html

cheers


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## The Bread Guy (11 Aug 2011)

Even the World Socialist Web Site has something to say:


> The Pentagon claimed Wednesday to have killed the resistance fighters responsible for last week’s downing of a helicopter that resulted in the worst US losses to date in the decade-old war in Afghanistan.
> 
> Gen. John Allen, the chief US military commander in Afghanistan, told the media that an air strike early Tuesday by a US F-16 fighter jet killed Mullah Mohibullah, a Taliban leader, along with several fighters, including the one who fired a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) into a CH-47 Chinook helicopter on August 6, killing 30 American troops along with seven Afghan soldiers and a civilian Afghan interpreter.
> 
> The downing of the helicopter inflicted the largest casualty toll for any single incident since the US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001. The deaths brought to 1,731 the total number of US troops killed in Operation Enduring Freedom, which began with that invasion. Another 932 troops from Britain, Canada, France, Germany and a number of other countries have also been killed in the war and occupation ....


 :


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## The Bread Guy (11 Aug 2011)

.... from the Pentagon:


> The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of 30 servicemembers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.  They died Aug. 6 in Wardak province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when their CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed.
> 
> The following sailors assigned to an East Coast-based Naval Special Warfare unit were killed:
> 
> ...


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## The Bread Guy (13 Aug 2011)

> Special Warfare Operator Master Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Louis J. Langlais, 44, of Santa Barbara, Calif.,



Apparently born in Canada:


> A 44-year-old Quebecer and member of the U.S. Navy SEALs was among the 38 people killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan last Friday.
> 
> Insurgents shot down the Chinook helicopter. It was the deadliest single attack against the international military coalition since the war began almost 10 years ago.
> 
> ...


Source:  QMI Media, 13 Aug 11


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## The Bread Guy (22 Sep 2011)

As they say, you can run, but you can't hide....


> The NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan said Thursday it had killed a Taliban commander who was the target of an operation in which 30 U.S. troops died when their helicopter crashed last month.
> 
> Qari Tahir was killed by an air strike Tuesday in Wardak province, central Afghanistan, the military said.
> 
> ...


Agence France-Presse, 22 Sept 11

This from the ISAF statement:


> In Sayyidabad district, Wardak province, a combined Afghan and coalition security force killed a significant Taliban leader and one of his associates during a security operation Tuesday.
> 
> A precision air strike killed Taliban leader, Qari Tahir, after the security force located Tahir and an associate in a dry riverbed in Sayyidabad district.
> 
> ...


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## cupper (22 Sep 2011)

Inspiring story of a charity fundraising event where people donated money as part of an intense workout to help set up university scholarships for the 31 children (and one that hasn't arrived yet) left fatherless as a result if this incident.

The event took place in many locations around the world, and they raised more than $2.1 Million.

All inspired by the call for by one child to have people remember his father too, an army pilot who's loss was overshadowed by the loss of the Navy SEAL's. 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40153870/vp/44633072#44633072


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## Argus562 (11 Oct 2011)

It's a real bear when incidents like this happen. I offer my sincere condolences and regards to the families and comrades of all who perished in this unfortunate action.   :yellow:


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## tomahawk6 (12 Oct 2011)

Results of the investigation. It would be fair to say that the shoot down was just bad luck

http://www.centcom.mil/images/stories/stories/wardak_executive_summary.pdf


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