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Canadian Among 7 Killed When U.S. Helicopter Shot Down in Afghanistan

Posted on: Thursday, 31 May 2007, 15:00 CDT

By STEPHANIE LEVITZ

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - A Canadian military photographer was among seven soldiers killed in southern Afghanistan when their helicopter was apparently shot down near the site of a recent battle in Helmand province.

The Canadian military said Thursday that Master Cpl. Darrell Jason Priede, 30, based at CFB Gagetown, N.B., died along with five Americans and a Briton when the CH-47 Chinook went down late Wednesday.

Initial reports suggested the helicopter was hit with a rocket-propelled grenade, said a U.S. official who insisted on speaking anonymously because the crash was still under investigation. NATO said there were no survivors.

"It was a hostile area, where the helicopter went down," said Maj. John Thomas, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF. "Initial indications are that enemy fire may have brought down the helicopter."

"There will be a full investigation," Thomas said. "We will try to determine everything that happened and to fully investigate the site."

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for shooting down the helicopter.

ISAF said other troops rushing to the scene of the crash were ambushed and had to call in air support to drive off their attackers.

The latest death brings to 56 the number of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan since 2002.

Lieut. Desmond James, stationed at the Provincial Reconstruction Team base outside Kandahar city, knew Priede personally and called him a professional who loved his job.

The two worked together when Priede documented the work of the various reconstructions missions carried out from the camp.

James fought back tears as he relayed the news of the soldier's death, saying it was hard for him to share the news of the tragic loss of a man he knew.

He showed photos the soldier had taken, among them a vivid snapshot of soldiers walking toward a recently refurbished mosque.

Those pictures were being hung in the PRT mess hall Thursday night.

A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, claimed in a phone call to The Associated Press that insurgents were responsible for bringing down the helicopter.

Ahmadi did not offer any proof for his claim, but he specified the helicopter crashed in the Kajaki district hours before NATO reported that information.

Kajaki is the site of a hydroelectric dam and the scene of recent fighting.

NATO said the CH-47 Chinook was carrying a crew of five and two military passengers when it crashed. The cause was "being determined by military officials," it said.

According to a U.S. military official, the British and Canadian soldiers were passengers on the helicopter.

The CH-47 Chinook, a heavy transport helicopter with two rotors, can carry around 40 soldiers plus a small crew. The fact it was flying at night suggested the aircraft might have been carrying troops on a nighttime air assault.

Helicopter crashes in Afghanistan have been relatively rare. A Chinook crashed in February in the southern province of Zabul, killing eight U.S. personnel. Officials ruled out enemy fire as the cause.

In May 2006, another Chinook crashed attempting a nighttime landing on a small mountaintop in eastern Kunar province, killing 10 U.S. soldiers.

In 2005, a U.S. helicopter crashed in Kunar, after apparently being hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, killing 16 Americans.

Source: Canadian Press

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