Kabul - A purported Taliban spokesman claimed on Monday that the hardcore Islamist militia had shot down three NATO helicopters, which the US military insisted crashed.
One military helicopter crashed in western Badghis province where seven US troops and three civilians were killed in an incident that the NATO-led force in Afghanistan said was not believed to have been caused by enemy fire.
The Taliban said, however, it was behind the downing of the helicopter and claimed 14 Afghan civilians were killed in a subsequent aerial bombardment.
The Islamists also claimed to have caused a mid-air collision in the south of the country which NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said killed four American soldiers.
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Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP the Islamists had "shot down" the helicopter in Badghis, adding that 24 foreign soldiers were killed.
Speaking to AFP from an undisclosed location, he was unable to provide any material proof of his claim. Nor is his precise position in the Taliban, an often nebulous coalition under different local commands, particularly clear.
The Taliban often claim responsibility for incidents that claim the lives of foreign troops in Afghanistan, and deny responsibility for incidents that kill large numbers of civilians but which bear their hallmark. - AFP
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