Afghan authorities said on Monday that the helicopter which crashed late on Friday, killing 30 U.S. occupation troops, was shot down after the Taliban movement laid a trap to lure US forces into the area.

Afghan authorities said on Monday that the helicopter which crashed late on Friday, killing 30 U.S. occupation troops, was shot down after the Taliban movement laid a trap to lure US forces into the area.

"Now it's confirmed that the helicopter was shot down and it was a trap that was set by a Taliban commander," said an Afghan government official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The official said the commander lured US forces to the scene by telling them there was a Taliban meeting taking place there.

The official said that President Hamid Karzai's US-backed government "thinks this was a retaliation attack for the killing of Osama Bin Laden."
The Taliban did not make such an assertion when they claimed responsibility for the attack.

Citing intelligence "gathered from the area," the official blamed Qari Tahir, a Taliban commander, for masterminding the attack. He alleged that four Pakistani nationals helped Tahir carry out the strike.
He said the intelligence also showed that the Chinook helicopter was brought down by multiple shots including "modern weapons" without giving further details.