Puli Alam, August 6
Thirty-one US special forces and seven Afghan soldiers died when the Taliban shot down their helicopter, officials said today, in the deadliest single incident for foreign troops since the war began in 2001. The Chinook helicopter was downed late Friday during an anti-Taliban operation in an insurgent-infested district of the eastern province of Wardak, just southwest of the Afghan capital Kabul.

It was shot down by a Taliban rocket which completely destroyed it, the Wardak governor’s spokesman said after the Taliban had claimed responsibility for the attack.

The death toll was given in a statement issued by Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s office and was not immediately confirmed by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

“The president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai expressed condolences over a NATO helicopter crash and the deaths of 31 members of US special forces,” the statement said.

“The president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan expresses his sympathy and deep condolences to US President Barack Obama and the family of the victims.” The statement added that seven Afghans were also killed in the crash, who the country’s defence ministry confirmed were also members of the special forces.

The strike was by far the worst to hit foreign troops in the near decade-long war. The previous worst saw 17 American soldiers killed in 2005 when a Taliban rocket hit their Chinook in the eastern province of Kunar.

One man who said he saw Friday’s shootdown, Mohammad Saber, told AFP that the helicopter plummeted during a late-night operation in his village.

“At around 10 pm last night (2300 IST), we heard helicopters flying over us,” he said. “We were at home. We saw one of the helicopters land on the roof of a house of a Taliban commander, then shooting started.

“The helicopter later took off but soon after taking off it went down and crashed. There were other helicopters flying as well.” Wardak provincial spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said the crash happened in Sayd Abad district during an operation against Taliban insurgents who have been waging war on pro-government forces since 2001.

“The US chopper that crashed last night was shot down by the Taliban as it was taking off,” he said. “A rocket fired by the insurgents hit it and completely destroyed it.” He added that the helicopter had broken into several parts.

A spokesman for ISAF, the foreign military force in Afghanistan, said they would issue a statement on what had happened “at an appropriate moment.” Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the insurgent group was responsible for shooting down the helicopter, which he said was an American Chinook, and acknowledged that eight insurgents had been killed.

A Western military source speaking on condition of anonymity also confirmed the helicopter type. — AFP

Melbourne, August 6
Indians and Chinese comprise a bulk of individuals that figure in Australia's border control watch list, the secret database to keep a tab on persons deemed a risk to national security.

With 34,189 citizens from China or more than 10 per cent of the total on the database, Chinese dominate the Movement Alert List (MAL), while Indians are the next largest national group with 21,643 citizens on the list, the Australian newspaper said in a report based on the data released under Freedom of Information laws.

The MAL is used for visa processing, border control and investigative purposes and is administered by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.

The data compiled by intelligence, law enforcement and other government agencies had 314,462 names in June, but the paper said the number is falling.

The list, which stores biographic details of identities and travel documents of concern to immigration authorities, reveals that while criminal concerns have gone down in recent times, health and criminal concerns have risen, the paper said.

National security classifications cover the largest proportion of people on the MAL — 49.2 per cent in March, but this proportion has fallen since June 2009 when it was 58.27 per cent.

Those considered a health risk, has meanwhile, grown in proportion, from 9.09 per cent in June 2009 to 11.08 per cent in March, with tuberculosis being a key factor. — PTI