A Black Hawk helicopter made a hard landing early on Tuesday resulting in an accident that injured two U.S. soldiers. A statement released by NATO revealed that the crew members suffered minor injuries when their helicopter crash landed in the Achin District in eastern Afghanistan as a result of a mechanical issue.
The NATO-led Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan revealed in a statement that a U.S. HH-60 Black Hawk suffered a mechanical issue that resulted in a hard landing during operations near Achin, Nangarhar early this morning.
The NATO-led mission also revealed that the rescue personnel safely recovered the crew. Two crew members suffered minor injuries in the landing and are receiving treatment at a coalition medical facility.
The report also indicated that the aircraft is being recovered and the incident is under investigation. The Taliban in a statement claimed they opened fire on the helicopter, killing everyone on board. The insurgents routinely exaggerate their gains and casualties they inflict in battle.
The Achin District is the home to hundreds of militants from ISIS-Khorasan or “ISIS-K”, the Islamic State’s Afghanistan affiliate. They are the same extremist group that claimed responsibility for the attack on the Iraqi Embassy in Kabul on Monday.
The region is where American troops are supporting Afghan security forces in a campaign against the ISIS affiliate. This past April, two U.S. Army Rangers were killed kight ISIS in Achin, just weeks after the U.S. Military dropped the “Mother of all Bombs’, or MOAB on an ISIS cave complex.
