Taliban capture nine aboard grounded NATO helicopter

Afghan officials confirm that Taliban have captured nine people aboard a NATO helicopter after it made an emergency landing in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Logar, Press TV reports.

Abdul Vali Vakil, the head of Logar Provincial Council, said on Monday that the US-led chopper came down ‘last night because of bad weather.’

It is not yet clear if it is a military helicopter, but according to some sources it had taken off from the US air base in Bagram, Parwan Province.

Afghan sources say there are Turkish nationals among the captives.

Meanwhile, the Taliban have made no comments on the incident so far.

On April 9, a NATO helicopter crashed in the eastern province of Nangarhar. Two US soldiers were killed in the incident.

Last month, six foreign troopers including five US soldiers were also killed in two separate helicopter crashes in Afghanistan.

According to icasualties.org, over 30 US-led soldiers have been killed in the war-torn country since the beginning of 2013.

The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror. While the war removed the Taliban from power, insecurity remains across the country.