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Taliban capture passengers after helicopter makes emergency landing Helicopter forced into emergency landing in Afghanistan
(about 1 hour later)
A civilian transport helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing in a Taliban-controlled area of eastern Afghanistan, and the insurgents took all nine people who were on board hostage, officials said on Monday. A helicopter carrying eight Turks and a Russian made an emergency landing in a Taliban-controlled area of eastern Afghanistan, officials said on Monday, and it was possible they were being held by insurgents.
The aircraft landed in strong winds and heavy rain on Sunday in a village in the Azra district of Logar province, southeast of Kabul and about 30km (20 miles) from the Pakistan border, said district governor Hamidullah Hamid. The helicopter, owned by air charter company Khorasan Cargo Airlines, made an emergency landing in Logar province late on Sunday due to bad weather, a Khorasan staff member said on condition of anonymity.
Taliban fighters then captured all nine aboard the helicopter and took them from the area, Hamid told the Associated Press. He said the crew members and passengers are all civilian, but he did not know their identities or nationalities. "The helicopter was carrying eight Turks, the pilots were Russian and Afghan. We believe they are in good health and Turkish officials are in contact with Afghan officials over the issue," Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Levent Gumrukcu said.
Nato confirmed the helicopter went down on Sunday, but the International Security Assistance Force did not have any other details. Isaf spokeswoman Erin Stattel said the coalition was assisting in the recovery of the aircraft. She could not say whether the aircraft had made a precautionary landing or whether the Taliban had forced it down. The spokesman said the passengers and pilots were in good health.
In Ankara, the Turkish foreign ministry said it was asking officials in Afghanistan to check unconfirmed news reports that some or all of the nine people aboard the helicopter were Turkish citizens. A spokesman for the Russian embassy in Kabul confirmed at least one of the two foreign pilots was a Russian citizen.
Logar deputy police chief Rais Khan Abdul Rahimzai said the helicopter is owned by a company named Khaorasan. He first identified it as an Afghan company, but later said he didn't know where it is based. Rahimzai said he didn't know what kind of cargo the aircraft was carrying, where it was headed, or whether it was working for Nato. Officials in Logar province said it was likely the group was now in the hands of the Taliban. The helicopter landed in Logar's eastern-most district, Azra, which borders Pakistan and is a hotbed of Taliban activity.
The company spoke to the pilots on Sunday afternoon but had heard nothing from them since, the staff member said.
Rais Khan Sadiq, a senior Logar police detective, said he believed insurgents had captured all those on board but was unable to confirm that immediately.
A spokesman for the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force said a helicopter had come down in eastern Afghanistan but was unable to provide more details.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location that he could not yet confirm if insurgents were holding the group.
Helicopter crashes and "hard landings" happen relatively frequently in mountainous Afghanistan.
In August 2011, 30 US special forces soldiers, seven Afghans and an interpreter were killed when a Chinook transport helicopter was shot down, the deadliest single incident for foreign troops in more than a decade of war.
Khorasan flies Russian Mi-8 and Mi-17 helicopters as well as fixed-wing aircraft in Afghanistan. They offer troops and cargo transportation as well as medivac and civilian transportation services.
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