U.S. CHOPPER SHOT DOWN IN AFGHANISTAN: 4 AMERICANS DEAD

Copter shot down in Afghanistan; 4 Americans dead

Jun 09, 2010 5:00 AM CDT
By RAHIM FAIEZ and ROHAN SULLIVAN Associated Press Writers

http://www.wafb.com/global/story.asp?s=12619061

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Insurgents shot down a NATO helicopter and killed four American troops in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, the military said, in the latest bloodshed ahead of a major operation in the militants' heartland.

The violence came as Afghanistan's ousted intelligence chief warned in an interview with The Associated Press that Afghan President Hamid Karzai's strategy of seeking reconciliation with the Taliban was dangerously flawed.

The deaths, and that of a British soldier killed by an improvised bomb in a separate attack Wednesday, take NATO's toll to 29 deaths in nine days, according to an AP count. The United States, whose some 94,000 troops vastly outnumber the rest of the allies' contributions in Afghanistan, has lost 17 service members since Sunday.