Dr Zulfiqar Mirza ke roop mein Osama bin Laden Karachi mein aa gaya hae

 
Countless Pakistanis went through (and some still are) temporary amnesia ever since the self-proclaimed Patriot spoke yesterday. The praise and glory being bestowed upon Mirza is a classic example of the saying “chal, kaha suna maaf”. All of a sudden we forget he’s the man behind countless irresponsible statements made in the recent past, we forget his excess energy and love for the spotlight that got him so carried away that he ended up flaring a gunbattle in Karachi only last month.

How many of you feel closer to personally knowing senior-minister-not-anymore Zulfiqar Mirza after his confessions yesterday? We now know about how much faith he has in the Holy Quran. We know how many siblings he has, their marital status and we know he’s got a healthy blend of relatives from various ethnic backgrounds. No reason to think that’s too much information – or too unnecessary for that matter. After all Mirza was trying to make a point – that he’s such an open, genuine guy – he couldn’t help but roll off completely irrelevant information before he got to the juicy bits.

Statements are a plenty in Pakistan. Outcomes are often murky. Where some question if the fiery Patriot would have still launched his tirade if there was no Lyari operation, others wonder what was the final push to the awakening of the great conscience. But before the son-of-the-soil Patriot finally said the magic words against those-who-must-not-be-named, he chose to attack Google Satellite Maestro Rehman Malik first.

Mirza breathed fire as he swore over the Quran that Malik is “hand-in-glove” with terrorists, he is a “compulsive liar” and is embarrassed to admit he eats apples. The clever Patriot knew there is no going wrong when it comes to involving the Holy Book. So that’s what he did. He swore on it, exposed the liars while vowing to speak nothing but the truth and then in case someone missed the patriotic hand lying on the Quran, he also put it on his head – he meant business.

Knowing Karachi burns at the slightest rift between political parties, the impulsive Patriot still took a chance and went ahead with his outburst. He was on a mission – a mission to save Pakistan from all the enemies, liars and fruit-eaters. But why now? Did you stop and think? No, of course not. All Pakistan needs is a hero anyway.

The short-sighted Patriot took a chance and said the magic words which almost turned his reputation around overnight. The Patriot took a shot at MQM, calling it a “terrorist organisation” – and immediately his bravery was celebrated. Other not-so-important patriots have often claimed “we need someone to call a spade, a spade etc. etc.”, but then when a Patriot comes galloping across the city to speak this truth, the city burns and bleeds. But perhaps Mirza the Patriot had had enough. He was not going to let any kind of pressure dictate him anymore, and for that if the city bled again, so be it!

Now as he simmers, a lot of things are coming to light. For starters, what will the Patriot’s “brother and friend” President Zardari do? He along with the apple of his eye Rehman Malik had been working hard to engage MQM in talks… Oops? How does that pan out now? Also, how does PPP continue to hold a façade of solidarity when such statements are being hurled across by its senior party members and there comes along such an evident gap between stances within the party?

Is “brother and friend” Zardari going to call Mirza again for a scolding? Malik has already forgiven him by dismissing his outburst and calling Mirza his younger brother. Like all families, here too, we see the younger brother’s carelessness being dismissed (so what if it has mass-scale violent reactions)… “chota bhai hai aakhair”. And then they say Pakistan lacks brotherhood!

But the most important question that comes now is: who benefits? The Patriot? The Brotherhood? Those-who-must-not-be-named? Alas, the show must go on.

The writer is the Deputy Editor at Dawn.com

MQM killed wali baber,Rehman “compulsive liar”.

Mirza said that Interior Minister Rehman Malik was “hand in glove with terrorists” and called him a “compulsive liar”. He said that he had evidence against Malik which he would present to the president and the army chief. He went ahead to add that Malik was harmful for Pakistan.






Mirza said that his ministry had been changed due to blackmail and said that there existed a manipulated mandate in Karachi.
He also said that if had been given a free hand, he would be able to bring peace in Karachi within 15 days.
Zulfikaqar Mirza also spoke out against the MQM again. He called the MQM Chief Altaf Hussain a “killer” and called his party a terrorist organisation.
During his press conference Zulfiqar Mirza revealed about a meeting that he had with the MQM chief in which Altaf Hussain allegedly said that the United States wanted to break up Pakistan and that the MQM would work with them to achieve this agenda.
He also accused the MQM of being responsible for the murder of journalist Wali Khan Babar and revealed the identities of five alleged target killers who were behind the killing.

Mirza announced his resignation from the Sindh Assembly, his post as Sindh senior minister and as senior vice-president of the Pakistan People Party (PPP). He added that his earlier ministry post had been changed to Sindh senior minister due to political blackmail.

Deploring conditions in Karachi, Mirza said that he would have brought peace to Karachi within 15 days if he had been given a free hand.

Mirza said after his resignation he would work on his own to deliver justice to the people of Karachi and Sindh.

He affirmed on oath to remain a die-hard supporter of the PPP and President Asif Ali Zardari, and thanked Benazir Bhutto and Zardari for their favours bestowed upon him.

MQM Lambasted

Zulfiqar Mirza said that MQM chief Altaf Hussain is a “killer”, and declared the MQM a terrorist organisation. He said proof can be found in the fact that target killings end whenever the MQM calls for an end to violence.

He also accused the MQM of collecting extortion money, kidnapping innocent people and using ambulances for their transportation.

Mirza also narrated a meeting with Altaf Hussain where the MQM chief allegedly declared that the US had decided to break Pakistan, and the MQM had decided to work with them towards this goal.

He said that there is a “manipulated” mandate in Karachi and Hyderabad and that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has exploited people’s sentiments.

Mirza also alleged that the MQM was behind the murder of Wali Khan Babar, a Geo News reporter who was shot dead in Liaquatabad No. 1 near the Apwa school as he was going home from office.

He presented some documents pertaining to Babar’s killers as evidence during the press conference.

Mirza added that in his tenure, out of 10,000 police officials appointed in Sindh, he ensured that not one appointment was MQM-based, as “there should be no room for killers in the police”.

Criticism of Rehman Malik

Mirza alleged that Interior Minister Rehman Malik is “hand in glove with terrorists” and that he has evidence that will implicate Malik in Karachi target killings. He said that he will forward this evidence to the government, army and intelligence agencies if the need arises.

“I have repeatedly told the PPP leadership that Rehman Malik is a pathological liar,” said Mirza. While acknowledging that Malik is a “good politician and good human being”, he maintained that he is also a “compulsive liar”.

He added that if Pakistan was harmed in the future, it would be Rehman Malik’s fault.

Zulfiqar Mirza resigns from all positions

Senior Pakistan People Party (PPP) leader and Sindh senior minister Dr Zulfiqar Ali Mirza here on Sunday announced resignation from his party post as well as membership of National Assembly.

Addressing a crowded press conference at the Karachi Press Club, he expressed serious reservations on the policy of government about the Karachi law and order. He said he would continue to work as ordinary party workers.


He said Ebad had been a runaway Muttahida leader and facing murder charges when he was made governor and he had again fled the country. Mirza claimed that the MQM was regretting its decision to quit the PPP-led coalition government “on the wrong advice of its friends”.

Breathing fire over those demanding a separate province in Sindh, Mirza said no one could dare talk about dividing Sindh and said that these demands were coming from those who Sindh sheltered when they were helpless migrants decades ago. “They can only talk about separating Karachi from Sindh over ‘our’ dead bodies,” he declared.

The former home minister also revealed that it was he who had prisoners shifted from Karachi to interior Sindh. He said all those shifted from Karachi jails were convicts. The revelation would rub salt in the wounds of the MQM leadership, who has alleged that their workers have been shifted from Karachi jails to those in interior Sindh to punish the party for quitting the coalition

The Deadly Friday

Friday, August 5, has become the deadliest single day in terms of American losses during the whole 10-year US military campaign in Afghanistan. The crash of the helicopter in Wardak province took away 38 lives, including those of 30 elite US special force personnel. The Taliban have already claimed their responsibility for brining down the helicopter.

Overall, 2011 is not the deadliest year for Americans in Afghanistan. If compared to the peak 2010, it shows a certain decline in US military losses, approximately equal to that of the comparable period of 2009. But thirty soldiers killed in one day is an unprecedented number.

More so, one day later, a convoy of 15 NATO tankers supplying fuel to NATO occupation forces in Afghanistan was burned in Pakistan. The responsibility for the action was once again claimed by the Taliban.

Ever since the elimination of Osama bin Laden in May the US administration has been boasting of its successes in Afghanistan, proclaiming that the end of the war is near and the ultimate victory over the insurgents is inevitable. Well, now over 20 Navy SEALS died in one day – members of the same unit that was directly involved in bin Laden's elimination. And the total of US losses in Afghanistan has climbed up to 1,700 (with numbers increasing every year).

Now, this gives ground to doubts whether the promises given by the US president Barack Obama to end the US troop withdrawal by the end of 2014 are to be fulfilled, and even if so, will that mean the triumph of the whole military operation, or a complete failure.

Barack Obama, who has been persistently flopping all his endeavors during the two and a half years of his presidency – both domestically and internationally, is frantically seeking at least some firm ground to base his re-election campaign on. A couple of months ago, shortly after bin Laden's elimination, Afghanistan seemed to be a lucrative starting point. Now, the picture has changed completely.

Usually, an "ordinary American" does not care much for what is going on beyond the US borders, if it does not directly affect their interests. But 38 soldiers killed in one day are probably much more than the US society can bear.

And most probably, few people will be bothered with the question of who started the war. At the moment, a much more important question is: who has not stopped it? Looking at the numbers of the US troops involved in the warfare in Afghanistan and respectively at the numbers of the losses, we can see that Barack Obama has overdone what his predecessor had done. It is the two and a half years of Obama's presidency that have witnessed the largest score of American deaths in Afghanistan.

And this is only one side of the problem. The US special forces' operations raise a lot of criticism from both human rights organizations and the current Afghan authorities. The operations are usually conducted during nighttime and more often than not are conjugated with imminent large-scale human rights violations. The US officials make clumsy remarks that such raids yield less victims than indiscriminate airstrikes, but that only shows how helpless the US military command is in combating (or, trying to combat) the insurgency.

While the US and NATO command in Afghanistan is increasingly relying upon the special forces' raids rather than conventional warfare, more and more provinces are falling under the Taliban control, including Wardak province where the Friday tragedy occurred.

It has clearly demonstrated that the US military are not only incapable of achieving whatever aims they pursue in Afghanistan, but even unable to guarantee the safety of their own personnel.

And thus, Friday, August 5, has all the prerequisites of becoming the symbol of what is looming for the US and what happened to all other invaders who ever tried to conquer Afghanistan, and that is a complete and indisputable collapse.

Probably, this will not end up in a USSR-type collapse, but one thing is clear – if Barack Obama does not find at least a relatively respectable way out of the mess created by his predecessor and aggravated by his own administration, his prospects for re-election will seem vaguer and vaguer.

And dead men don’t talk.

by Julius Sequerra

31 American military personnel were killed when the Boeing Chinook helicopter in which they were flying crashed in Afghanistan .

Of the thirty-one killed, twenty were members of SEAL Team 6.

More importantly, I've been reliably informed (by a retired Colonel , US Army intel) that these very same operatives were the men who allegedly killed Usama bin Laden recently in Abbottabad.  [NB: Seal Team 6 is an ultra-elite group of "black" operatives who exist outside military protocol, engage in operations that are at the highest level of classification, and often outside the bounds of international law.]

The official story is that the Taliban shot down the chopper. I have my doubts (as do many others far more savvy than yours truly).

[Remember Pat Tillman, the Pro Football star who forsook a megabuck contract and volunteered to go fight in Afghanistan in the heat of the post-9/11 patriotic frenzy? The official story is that Tillman was killed in a friendly-fire incident. According to reports from several US military personnel (a few of whom I know), Pat Tillman was assassinated by his own government. Reportedly, Tillman, the quintessential poster-boy for military recruitment, was waking up to the 9/11 lie, and was beginning to get a little too loose-lipped for his own good. Word traveled up the chain fast. Three bullets to the head fired at close range killed him. Friendly-fire indeed.]


"We are never deceived; we deceive ourselves." - Goethe

Usama's "recent death" brings to mind photos that made international headlines during the Iraq invasion.

Remember that iconic image of cheering Iraqis helping bring down the statue of Saddam? A Marine I know told me he had a friend who was actually there, on the ground, in that town square. Evidently, there were no more than 50 Iraqis in that "cheering crowd" — and virtually all of them were paid to participate in the photo shoot. [Did you happen to notice there was only one tightly cropped shot from just one camera angle? The rest of the square was virtually empty, save for US military personnel and equipment.]

Then there was that other classic shot, of a bearded and bedraggled Saddam crawling out of a hole with his hands pathetically held up in the air in a gesture of utter defeat. Remember that one?
 
Again, rigged. I'm personally acquainted with a former Marine who knows one of the guys who actually helped stage that sordid affair.

Truth is, Saddam was finally cornered in the home of one of his friends, and he fought valiantly to the last bullet. He was eventually nabbed, mussed up further (he apparently didn't look great to begin), physically forced into the hole, and dirt thrown on him for good measure to ensure a Hollywood-grade image. That photo's singular intent was to demoralize the Iraqi populace by showing their leader cowering in abject defeat.

Usama bin Laden's REAL Death

It is generally known by military insiders (and others who look to alternative sources for their news) that Usama bin Laden died of natural causes in 2001. He had just returned to Pakistan from Dubai following medical treatment at the American Hospital .

As early as March, 2000, Asia Week expressed concern for bin Laden's health, describing a serious medical problem that could put his life in danger because of "a kidney infection that is propagating itself to the liver and requires specialized treatment."

Having taken off from Quetta in Pakistan , bin Laden arrived in Dubai and was transferred to the American Hospital . He was accompanied by his personal physician and a 'faithful lieutenant' (possibly al-Zawahiri). Usama was admitted to the well-respected urology department run by Dr. Terry Callaway, an American gallstone and infertility specialist.

Bin Laden was checked into one of the hospital's VIP suites. While there, he received visits from many members of his family as well as prominent Saudis and Emiratis. During the hospital stay, the local CIA agent, known to many in Dubai , was seen taking the main elevator of the hospital to bin Laden's floor.

A few days later, the CIA man bragged to a few friends about having visited bin Laden. Reliable sources report that on July 15th, the day after bin Laden returned to Quetta , the CIA agent was recalled to headquarters.  [NB: Contacts between the CIA and bin Laden began in 1979 when, as a representative of his family's business, he began recruiting volunteers for the Afghan resistance against the Soviet Red Army.]

The LAST 'Death' of bin Laden

What the world has been told about the recent "Death of Usama bin Laden" is pitiful and laughably absurd (especially the parts about no forensic tests having been performed, and the body quickly dumped into the sea. That last doctored photo was the clincher).

Truth is, bin Laden's bin dead a long time.

The charade in Abbottabad was one massive a psyop to provide soothing peace of mind for the American public subject to full-throttle media propaganda, while continuing, unabatedly, one of the greatest, deadliest, and most expensive hoaxes of all time: 9/11 and "The War on Terror."

And now, every single SEAL Team 6 member who was involved in the 'assassination' psyop is dead.

Incidentally, I had to smile when I saw one particularly amusing headline re Usama's latest death, in the US publication Business Insider: "Meet The 'Seal Team 6', The Bad-Asses Who Killed Osama Bin Laden"

Well, all those hapless 'bad asses' are now dead.

And dead men don't talk.

 

London riots spread south of Thames

here has been a second night of rioting across London, with violence erupting in several of the capital's boroughs, from Brixton in the south to Enfield and Islington in the north and Walthamstow to the east.

What police are calling "copycat criminal activity" – some of it apparently part of an orchestrated plan – has so far resulted in 100 arrests.

Sunday night's rioting followed disturbances on Saturday night in Tottenham, which came after the fatal shooting by police of Mark Duggan, 29, on Thursday.

In a statement on Monday morning, the Metropolitan police said they were shocked at the levels of "disgraceful violence" that had left 35 officers injured.

"Officers responding to sporadic disorder in a number of boroughs made more than 100 arrests throughout last night and early this morning.

"This is in addition to the 61 arrests made on Saturday night and Sunday morning … Officers are shocked at the outrageous level of violence directed against them. At least nine officers were injured overnight in addition to the 26 injured on Saturday night.

"We will not tolerate this disgraceful violence. The investigation continues to bring these criminals to justice."

Shops in Enfield Town and the A10 retail park were vandalised and looted, and there were reports of two vehicles set on fire.

Mounted police were seen chasing groups of masked youths, some carrying sticks, away from stores, while lines of riot police readied themselves for trouble.

At 9.30pm on Sunday Met police and reinforcements from Kent began turning the whole of Enfield into a "sterile area". Hundreds of riot police arrived with vans and police dogs, charging at groups of teenagers who disappeared into sidestreets, smashing cars and shop windows as they ran.

A large crowd of youths moved off westwards, with some teenagers saying the plan was to go to nearby Ponders End. A retail park and shops were attacked, among them a closed Tesco Extra store. Workers inside described hearing windows smashing as dozens of youths poured into the store. "They left carrying TVs, alcohol – they were stuffing trolleys," said one shop assistant.

Unlike the previous night's disturbances, this time riot police appeared on the scene in large numbers. Their stance was also more aggressive, with baton charges and dogs used to disperse crowds.

Three officers were taken to hospital after being hit by a fast-moving vehicle at 12.45am, a Metropolitan police spokesman said, while a fight broke out when rival gangs went to King's College Hospital in Denmark Hill, south London, after two victims of minor stabbings were admitted. The hospital brought in extra security for the rest of the night and officers remained on scene dealing with the initial stabbings.

Six fire engines were dispatched to deal with a blaze at a Foot Locker shop in Brixton, south London, and witnesses saw riot police clash with looters at a Currys store nearby.

The looting across London was carried out by "small and mobile" groups, the police spokesman said.

As violence spread, about 50 youths gathered in Oxford Circus, central London, and damaged property.

Elsewhere, more than 30 youths, many in masks, vandalised and looted shops in Walthamstow Central, including BHS.

Meanwhile, the family of Mark Duggan's said it was "not condoning" the riots and looting that had rocked their local area.

Duggan's brother Shaun Hall told Sky News: "It seems to be the press who are generally saying that it is linked to my brother. OK, some questions were supposed to have been answered, they weren't answered, therefore there was a domino effect from that, we don't condone that at all.

"I know people are frustrated, they're angry out there at the moment, but I would say please try and hold it down. Please don't make this about my brother's life. He was a good man."

Hall said the family was "devastated" by his death and dismissed as "utter rubbish" the allegation that he had shot at police.

The Guardian has reported that initial tests suggest a bullet found lodged in a police radio after Duggan's death was police issue. The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which has launched an inquiry into the shooting, said it would not comment until all ballistics and forensic tests were complete.

A major investigation codenamed Operation Withern has been launched followed the unrest in Tottenham.

Hooded young people looted shops in London

 

LONDON - Police arrested 160 people during a weekend of riots and looting that erupted in a disadvantaged London neighborhood just five miles from the site of next year's Olympic Games.

Groups of masked and hooded young people looted shops, attacked police officers and set fire to vehicles in violence that has raised questions about security ahead of the 2012 Olympics and revealed pent-up anger against the city's police.

Around 35 police officers were injured, including three hit by a car while trying to make arrests in east London.

Police commander Christine Jones said officers were "shocked at the outrageous level of violence directed against them."

London riots rage for 2nd night
Video: Rioters set London suburb ablaze
Londoners riot after police shooting

The violence broke out in the gritty north London suburb of Tottenham on Saturday night amid community anger over a fatal police shooting of a 29-year-old father of four. Police said "copycat criminal" violence spread to other parts of the city Sunday night and early Monday, including, briefly, London's main shopping and tourist district at Oxford Circus.

The protest over the death of Mark Duggan, who was gunned down in disputed circumstances Thursday, was initially peaceful. But it turned ugly as between 300 and 500 people gathered around Tottenham's police station late Saturday. Some protesters filled bottles with gasoline to throw at police lines, others confronted officers with makeshift weapons — including baseball bats and bars — and attempted to storm the station.

Tottenham was relatively peaceful on Sunday night, but the violence spread to Walthamstow Central in east London, where police said 30 youths vandalized and looted some shops. Another 50 people damaged property in Oxford Circus.

In the south London neighborhood of Brixton — the scene of riots in the 1980s and 90s — youths smashed windows, attacked a police car, set fire to a KFC restaurant and garbage bins and stole video games, sportswear and other goods from stores.

"It's obviously stemmed from what's happened in Tottenham, but we are 10 miles away," said Williams Falade, manager of a gym that was closed Monday because the restaurant next door had been attacked. "It was like it was an excuse. Things like this will happen but they should happen for better reasons."

Tottenham has a history of unrest. It was the site of the 1985 Broadwater Farm riots, a series of clashes that led to the savage stabbing of a police officer and the wounding of nearly 60 others — brutally underscoring tensions between London police and the capital's black community.

Relations have improved but mistrust still lingers, and the shooting of Duggan — a popular figure in the community — has stirred old animosities.

Very few details of Duggan's death have been released, although police said initially an officer was briefly hospitalized after the shooting — suggesting there was an exchange of fire. Media reports said a bullet had been found lodged in the officer's radio.

In a bid to calm the swirling rumors, the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which is investigating the shooting, released a statement saying "speculation that Mark Duggan was 'assassinated' in an execution-style involving a number of shots to the head are categorically untrue." It also said a "non-police firearm" was recovered at the scene.

But the circumstances of his death remain unclear.

Although a gun was recovered from the scene, The Guardian newspaper reported that the bullet in the radio was police-issue, indicating Duggan may not have fired at the officer.

With images of buildings and vehicles in flames broadcast around the world less than a year before the city hosts the Olympic Games, London Mayor Boris Johnson and Prime Minister David Cameron, both of the Conservative party, were criticized for not returning from vacation after Saturday's riot.

Kit Malthouse, the deputy mayor for policing in London, defended his boss.

"Should he be reacting to these criminal provocateurs in that way by coming back? I think that is kind of rewarding them," he told Sky News. "Modern communications mean he can stay in touch and participate in meetings from around the globe."

The Prime Minister's office issued a statement saying he was receiving regular updates on the situation.

Whats gone with Copter shot down? killing 30 US SEALs

Insurgents shot down a U.S. military helicopter during fighting in eastern Afghanistan, killing 30 Americans, most of them belonging to the same elite Navy SEALs unit that killed Osama bin Laden, as well as seven Afghan commandos, U.S. officials said. It was the deadliest single loss for American forces in the decade-old war.

The downing Saturday was a stinging blow to the lauded, tight-knit SEAL Team 6, months after its crowning achievement, and was also a heavy setback for the U.S.-led coalition as it begins to draw down thousands of combat troops fighting what has become an increasingly costly and unpopular war.

None of the 22 SEAL personnel killed in the crash were part of the team that killed bin Laden in a May raid in Pakistan , but they belonged to the same unit. Their deployment in the raid in which the helicopter crashed would suggest that the target was a high-ranking insurgent figure.

Special operations forces, including the SEALs and others, have been at the forefront in the stepped up strategy of taking out key insurgent leaders in targeted raids, and they will be relied on even more as regular troops pull out.

The strike is also likely to boost the morale of the Taliban in a key province that controls a strategic approach to the capital Kabul . The overnight raid took place in the Tangi Joy Zarin area of Wardak province's Sayd Abad district, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southwest of Kabul . Forested peaks in the region give the insurgency good cover and the Taliban have continued to use it as a base despite repeated NATO assaults.

The Taliban claimed they downed the helicopter with a rocket while it was taking part in a raid on a house where insurgents were gathered in Wardak overnight. Wreckage of the craft was strewn across the crash site, a Taliban spokesman said.

A senior U.S. administration official in Washington said it appeared the craft had been shot down. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the crash is still being investigated.

"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 ," President Barack Obama said in a statement, adding that his thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those who perished.

The U.S.-led coalition said 30 American service members, a civilian Afghan interpreter and seven Afghan commandos were killed when their CH-47 Chinook crashed in the early hours Saturday. A current U.S. official and a former U.S. official said the Americans included 22 SEALs, three Air Force combat controllers and a dog handler and his dog. The two spoke on condition of anonymity because military officials were still notifying the families of the dead.

Geneva Vaughn of Union City, Tennessee, told The Associated Press on Saturday that her grandson Aaron Carson Vaughn, a Tennessee native, was one of the SEALs who was killed.

Jon Tumilson of Rockford , Iowa , was also among the SEALs killed in the attack, his father George Tumilson told The Des Moines Register.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced the number of people killed in the crash and the presence of special operations troops before any other public figure. He also offered his condolences to the American and Afghan troops killed in the crash.

The deaths bring to 365 the number of coalition troops killed this year in Afghanistan and 42 this month.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement that the helicopter was involved in an assault on a house where insurgent fighters were gathering. During the battle, the fighters shot down the helicopter with a rocket, he said.

The casualties are believed to be largest loss of life in the history of SEAL Team Six, officially called the Navy Special Warfare Development Group, or DEVGRU. The team is considered the best of the best among the already elite SEALs, which numbers 3,000 personnel.

NPR and ABC News first reported that those aboard were believed to be Navy SEALs. The AP withheld the report at the request of their sources until they believed the majority of families of those lost had been notified.

The death toll surpasses the previous worst single day loss of life for the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001 — the June 28, 2005 downing of a military helicopter in eastern Kunar province.

In that incident, 16 Navy SEALs and Army special operations troops were killed when their craft was shot down while on a mission to rescue four SEALs under attack by the Taliban. Three of the SEALs being rescued were also killed and the fourth wounded.

Afghanistan has more U.S. special operations troops, about 10,000, than any other theater of war. The forces, often joined by Afghan troops, carry out as many as a dozen raids a night and have become one of the most effective weapons in the coalition's arsenal, also conducting surveillance and infiltration.

From April to July this year, special operations raids captured 2,941 insurgents and killed 834, twice as many as those killed or captured in the same three-month period of 2010, according to NATO.

The coalition plans to increase its reliance on special operations missions as it reduces the overall number of combat troops.

Night raids have drawn criticism from human rights activists and infuriated Karzai, who says they anger and alienate the Afghan population. But NATO commanders have said the raids are safer for civilians than relatively imprecise airstrikes.

The loss of so many SEALs at once will have a temporary impact on the tempo of missions they can carry out, but with an ongoing drawdown of special operations forces from Iraq , there will be more in reserve for Afghan missions.

The site of the crash, Tangi, is a particularly dangerous area, the site where many of the attacks that take place in the province are planned, said Wardak's Deputy Gov. Ali Ahmad Khashai. "Even with all of the operations conducted there, the opposition is still active."

The U.S. army had intended to hand over its Combat Outpost Tangi to Afghan National Security Forces in April, but the Afghans never established a permanent base there. "We deemed it not to be stategic and closed it," said coalition spokesman U.S. Army Maj. Jason Waggoner. "The Taliban went in and occupied it because it was vacant."

Western military commanders have been debating moving forces from other areas in Afghanistan to reinforce troops around the capital and in the east, where the Taliban is often aided by al-Qaida and other terrorist groups. Earlier this year, the U.S. military closed smaller outposts in at least two eastern provinces and consolidated its troops onto larger bases because of increased insurgent attacks and infiltration from the Pakistan border.There have been at least 17 coalition and Afghan aircraft crashes in Afghanistan this year.

Most of the crashes were attributed to pilot errors, weather conditions or mechanical failures. However, the coalition has confirmed that at least one CH-47F Chinook helicopter was hit by a rocket propelled grenade on July 25. Two coalition crew members were injured in that attack.

___

Associated Press writers Anne Gearan and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington , and Rahim Faiez and Patrick Quinn in Kabul contributed to this report.