Taliban ambushes chopper after emergency landing, 3 killed
Taliban insurgents on Tuesday ambushed a military-contracted helicopter that made an emergency landing in northwest Afghanistan, killing three people in a shootout and capturing 16 other people on board, Afghan officials said.
Defense Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri confirmed the helicopter had gone down in Faryab, a province that has experienced heavy fighting between the Taliban and Afghan security forces. He would not say where the helicopter was headed or who was on board, and it was not immediately clear why the helicopter was forced to land there.
But an army officer in Faryab, insisting on anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the media, said the civilian aircraft had been contracted to transport army personnel. He said that after it landed, Taliban fighters rushed to the area, sparking the shootout and then arresting everyone on board. They later burned the chopper, he added.
