Taliban down U.S. helicopter; American missiles kill 20 in border tribal zone

KABUL, Afghanistan — Insurgents on Monday downed a U.S. helicopter in a province near the capital, American military officials said — an unusual feat for the Taliban. The crew survived and was rescued, a U.S. military spokesman said.

Also Monday, a suicide bomber dressed as an Afghan policeman killed two American soldiers and wounded several other people at a police station in northern Afghanistan, provincial officials said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which also injured some Afghan officers, according to police in Baghlan province.

In a related clash, suspected U.S. missiles killed 20 people at the house of a Taliban commander near the Afghan border on Monday, the latest volley in a two-month onslaught on militant bases inside Pakistan, officials said.

The Black Hawk helicopter that was downed was flying over Wardak province, about 40 miles west of Kabul, when it came under small-arms fire from insurgents, said Lt. Cmdr. Walter Matthews, an American military spokesman. The crew returned fire, but damage to the helicopter forced them to make a hard landing. Matthews declined to say how many crew members had been aboard but said without providing details that they were all "extracted" from the area.

Wardak has become a Taliban stronghold in recent months, which has contributed to the choking off of road traffic in and out of Kabul.

In more than seven years of fighting, only rarely have insurgents managed to down Western helicopters. a crucial mode of transport for troops and supplies because many of Afghanistan's roads are poorly maintained and dangerous, and because Western bases are scattered widely amid extremely rough terrain.

The suicide bombing in the north came as U.S. soldiers were meeting with local police officials and the bomber tried to push his way inside the police compound. The Taliban sometimes are able to obtain Afghan police and army uniforms, providing them to attackers to disguise themselves. But insurgents also are believed to have infiltrated some local police squadrons and attacked American troops. Two U.S. soldiers were killed in such shootings in the last month, both in eastern Afghanistan.

The reported missile strike occurred in South Waziristan, part of a belt of tribally governed territory considered a possible hiding place for Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri.

American commanders complain that Pakistani forces have not put enough pressure on militant strongholds on their territory. U.S. military and CIA drones that patrol the frontier region are believed to have carried out at least 15 strikes since mid-August. Pakistan's new leaders have protested the missile strikes — as well as a highly unusual raid by helicopter-borne commandos in September — as unacceptable violations of their sovereignty.

In a resolution adopted Monday, Pakistani senators condemned the U.S. drone attacks, saying they caused "immense" loss of life and were undermining Pakistan's efforts to defuse militancy through dialogue.

One of the commanders believed killed in the attack, Eida Khan, was wanted for cross-border attacks from bases in Waziristan, an official said. Another, Wahweed Ullah, worked with Arabs who were part of al-Qaida, a resident said.

The drone launched a missile attack on a compound in the village of Manduta, close to Wana, the capital of South Waziristan, about 20 miles from the Afghanistan border.

Khan and Ullah, as well as two brothers of Khan, were affiliated with the militant network of Jalaluddin Haqqani, a senior Taliban figure with close connections to al-Qaida.

Information from The Associated Press and The New York Times is included in this report.