In what appears to be a rare of the rarest incident, Taliban fighters on Saturday shot down an American CH-47 Chinook helicopter using RPGs (Rocket Propelled Grenades) killing all soldiers aboard. It is the biggest loss of life for U.S. military in a single incident in the whole 10 years old war in Afghanistan.

The helicopter which got under attack shortly after it took off, carrying more than 3 dozen troops including 31 American and 7 Afghani Commandos, crashed in the Tangi valley of Wardak province, west of Kabul.

The ultimate shocker is the fact that most casualties included members belonging to SEAL Team Six which is the most elite special operations unit of U.S. military. It is the same unit that supposedly killed Osama bin Laden in a raid deep inside Pakistani territory in the month of June. Although none of the elite unit’s members who participated in the Osama hunt were on the helicopter at the time it went down.

The incident has been confirmed by both American/ISAF & Afghan officials after remaining silent for more than 18 freaking hours.

The exact number of SEAL’s killed has not been declassified but it is believed that more than a dozen of the 31 US soldiers killed belonged to SEAL Team Six.

Afghan President Mr Karzai’s said in a statement:

“The president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai expressed condolences over a Nato helicopter crash and the deaths of 31 members of US special forces.”

President Barack Obama offered his condolences to the families of those who died and said:

“My thoughts and prayers go out to the families and loved ones of the Americans who were lost earlier today in Afghanistan. Their deaths are a reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices made by the men and women of our military and their families, including all who have served in Afghanistan. We will draw inspiration from their lives, and continue the work of securing our country and standing up for the values that they embodied. We also mourn the Afghans who died alongside our troops in pursuit of a more peaceful and hopeful future for their country.”

It is not the very first time that a Western helicopter has been downed by hostile action of Taliban but such incidents have been relatively quite rare in the Afghan conflict. In one previous such infamous incident back in 2005, 16 American soldiers got killed when their chinook was hit by enemy gunfire.

The Taliban version of the incident has also been out as they claim that their fighters had ambushed Western troops after being tipped off to an imminent night raid in the district. The Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid confirmed the “martyrdom” of eight Taliban fighters in what was described as fierce combat before the shooting down of the helicopter.

It seems that its not only the American military that has ramped up its pounding on Taliban but the Taliban too have ramped up all their gorilla activities, specially given the fact that Americans are soon pulling out of Afghanistan completely.