Afghanistan (ANTARA News/AKI) - A helicopter which crashed killing 30 over US troops in Afghanistan at the weekend was shot down after the Taliban laid a trap to lure US forces into the area, an Afghan government official was cited as saying Monday.

The official said that Afghan president Hamid Karzai?s US-backed government "thinks this was a retaliation attack for the killing of Osama Bin Laden."

The Taliban did not state this when they claimed responsibility for the attack, into which the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan has launched an investigation.

"Now it's confirmed that the helicopter was shot down and it was a trap that was set by a Taliban commander," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, quoted by AFP news agency

The official said the commander lured US forces to the scene by telling them there was a Taliban meeting taking place there.

Taliban shot down the ISAF Chinook helicopter on Saturday in the Syedabad District of central Maidan Wardak province, killing 31 US special forces and seven Afghan soldiers.

Since the beginning of 2011, nearly 20 helicopters belonging to Afghan or foreign troops have crashed or made emergency landings in Afghanistan, according to Afghan news agency Pajhwok.
(T.A045/H-AK)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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