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New Delhi: A US-manufactured Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Afghanistan killing three Afghan crew members, the Taliban's defence ministry said. The statement said that five others were wounded in the accident during a training session overseen by Afghanistan's defence ministry in the capital of Kabul.
Separately, three civilians were wounded when a bicycle bomb exploded in Kabul, said Khalid Zadran, spokesman for the capital's police chief. The attack occurred in the Shai neighbourhood and there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast.
US intelligence officials also fear that there are around 150 helicopters and planes for Taliban insurgents to use, including 45 UH-60 Black Hawk choppers. Each chopper costs around $21million.
It is not known how many US choppers remain in the hands of the Taliban government. Last year about 140 Afghan pilots and others were flown out of Tajikistan and then to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates and their final destination in the US.
The Taliban has reportedly made off with up to £13bn worth of abandoned weapons and vehicles, including 200,000 firearms and 20,000 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles, or Humvees, taken from the Afghan army.
Among the haul are more than two million 7.62 bullets for AK47 assault rifles, worth over a million pounds – plus military vehicles. They have A-29 light attack aircraft worth £17 million and 100,000 70mm rockets.
In their annual one-year rule celebrations of the Taliban in Afghanistan (August 15) the Taliban paraded their captured equipment in Kabul along with thousands of firearms, Humvees and light tactical vehicles.