Taliban downs spyplane, copter

ISLAMABAD, SEPT. 22. Afghanistan's ruling Taliban today said it had downed an unmanned spy plane and a helicopter in areas where opposition forces reported sweeping advances.

Despite earlier contradictory statements, Taliban officials said they had established that their forces had downed a pilotless drone aircraft over Tashkurghan with machinegun fire as well as a helicopter near Dara-i-Suf.

Both areas are in Samangan, around 240 km northwest of Kabul, where the anti-Taliban commander, Gen. Rashid Dostum, reported that his force of minority Uzbek fighters had made advances against the Taliban.

Mystery surrounded the origin of the spy plane, but a spokesman for the opposition Northern Alliance confirmed the helicopter crash - although it blamed it on a mechanical fault. "The helicopter seems to have gone down because of technical reasons," said the Alliance spokesman, Mr. Mohammad Ashraf Nadeem, adding that the fate of those on board was unknown.

The Taliban's Ambassador in Islamabad, Mullah Abdul Saleem Zaeef, told Reuters the spyplane had been downed while taking pictures over northern Afghanistan.

Washington frequently uses "drones" to fly observation and spy missions over Iraq, but the aircraft do not generally have defensive capabilities and made up the majority of planes shot down by Baghdad since the Gulf War.

A pentagon spokesman in Washington would not comment on the report.

"It made two or three rounds in the area before being shot down. It was probably taking pictures," Mr. Zaeef said, adding that it was not badly damaged in the crash.

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