Afghan Taliban claim shooting down NATO helicopter, coalition denies
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KABUL: Afghan Taliban have claimed shooting down a NATO coalition helicopter in central Logar province of Afghanistan.
A spokesman for the NATO alliance Bob Purtiman said “The Taliban’s claim to have shot down a U.S. helicopter in Logar province is false.”
He said “A helicopter did make a emergency landing for maintenance issue. The aircraft has been successfully recovered.”
Logar is among the relatively volatile provinces in central Afghanistan where the Taliban insurgents are actively operating in some its districts and often carryout insurgency activities.
This is not the first time the group has made a claim regarding the downing of an aircraft belonging to the coalition but in the past the group has made several such claims which have been rejected by the alliance.
In the meantime, reports regarding the precautionary landing of the helicopter in Logar province come as the US forces are mulling to increase their operations in Afghanistan.
Earlier, reports had emerged suggesting that the US forces based in Afghanistan are preparing to increase airstrikes, days after the US President Donald Trump announced the new US strategy for Afghanistan and the South Asia.
