Taliban in first heat-seeking missile attack
By Tom Coghlan in Kabul
Last Updated: 12:43am BST 29/07/200
# Frontline: Reports from Iraq and Afghanistan
Taliban militants have used a heat-seeking surface-to-air missile to attack a Western aircraft over Afghanistan for the first time.
# Frontline: Reports from Iraq and Afghanistan
Taliban militants have used a heat-seeking surface-to-air missile to attack a Western aircraft over Afghanistan for the first time. The attack with a weapon believed to have been smuggled across the border with Iran represents a worrying increase in the capability of the militants which Western commanders had long feared. The Daily Telegraph has learnt that the Taliban attempted to bring down an American C-130 Hercules aircraft flying over the south-western province of Nimroz on July 22. The crew reported that a missile system locked on to their aircraft and that a missile was fired. It closed in on the large C-130 aircraft, pursuing it as the pilots launched a series of violent evasive manoeuvres and jettisoned flares to confuse the heat sensors in the nose of the missile. Crew members said that they saw what they believe was a missile passing very close to the aircraft. The C-130 was not damaged in the attack. Nato officials yesterday refused to confirm or deny that such an attack had taken place.
Full storyhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/28/wafg128.xml
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