Insurgents shot down a U.S. helicopter after exchanging fire with its crew in central Afghanistan today, while a suicide bomber in the north killed two American soldiers inside a police station, officials said. The crew of the helicopter, forced down in a province neighboring Kabul, were rescued and troops were "in the process of recovering" the aircraft," said Lt. Cmdr. Walter Matthew, a U.S. military spokesman.
"The helicopter crew exchanged fire with the enemy before the damage brought the helicopter down," Matthews said.At least four militants were killed in the exchange, said Fazel Karim Muslim, the chief of Sayed Abad district.
Wardak province has seen an increase in insurgent activity the last two years, and its main highway is now extremely risky to travel on, particularly at night. In mid-October, a U.S. Special Forces raid freed a kidnapped American working for the Army Corps of Engineers who had been held by his captors in Wardak for two months