AlJazeera: Taliban claim to have downed 3 helicopters

In the interest of free speech, we will translate AlJazeera news as Tarjim site is down

• American warplanes bomb frontline north of Kabul
• Taliban officials claim US interruption of Special Forces strikes on Kandhar were a result of US casualties.
• Russian political and military authorities expected to start planning interim Afhan government within 3 weeks.

The Taliban alleges to have shot down 3 helicopters in the Special Foces raids near Kandahar in the south of the country. During the third such raid, American planes bombed the front line between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance north of Kabul. The Pentagon has denied the claims

• Part of the alleged wreckage of the American helicopter*
  

The AlJazeera correspondent in Kandahar reports that a Taliban official alleges the downing of three American helicopters and the death of 25 American soldiers during the first Special Forces raids near Kandahar in the south of the country. The Taliban also attribute the American casualties to the lull in the American strikes on Kandahar.

The Pentagon could not immediately confirm or deny the report of civilian deaths in the hospital in Herat.