October 24, 2001	Wednesday	Shaba'an 6, 1422

WASHINGTON, Oct 23: A US special forces MH-47 helicopter lost a wheel in last week’s commando raid into southern Afghanistan when it struck a barrier, but it continued its mission and returned safely to base, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman acknowledged that a helicopter wheel shown on television by the Taliban was from the MH-47, but said that its loss was “not caused by any sort of hostile action”.

“The wheel shown on TV was in fact from an MH-47 helicopter,” he said. “In the course of Friday night’s mission the helicopter’s main landing gear came in contact with a barrier and was torn off.”

“The helicopter continued its mission and returned safely,” he said, adding that there was “no further damage to the aircraft or injury to its crew.”

The disclosure also was the first official acknowledgement that helicopters as well as C-130 aircraft were used in the raid, which assaulted an airfield south of Kandahar and a compound belonging to the Taliban’s supreme leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar.—AFP