Ismail Sameem, Reuters  --  Arab News

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, 23 February 2004 — A pilot was killed and a US passenger critically injured in southern Afghanistan yesterday when their helicopter came under fire in an attack claimed by rebels from the ousted Taleban militia.

A spokesman for the US Embassy in Kabul initially said the pilot was British, but subsequently said there was confusion over his nationality. The attack happened around 60 km south of Kandahar at about 11 a.m. (0630 GMT).

The helicopter belonged to US construction company Louis Berger Group Inc, which oversees reconstruction work on the main highway linking Kabul with Kandahar in the south.

The route has been plagued by attacks and kidnappings claimed by members of the hard-line Taleban militia ousted from power by US-led forces in late 2001 for sheltering the Al-Qaeda network of Osama Bin Laden.

The rebels claimed responsibility for yesterday's attack, saying that people on board were spying on the Taleban and using the opening of a school as an excuse to fly over the area.

The Taleban has declared a "jihad", or holy war on foreign troops, Afghan forces and aid agencies in Afghanistan. "When the helicopter landed we fired on it with machineguns from two sides," said Mulla Sabir Momin, Taleban deputy commander of operations for southern Afghanistan, speaking from an undisclosed location.

"I don't know how many casualties, but the attackers fled."

Sources among contractors hired by Louis Berger said there were at least five people on board the helicopter, including two Afghans. The pilot was killed and the passengers were all injured, at least one seriously.

The US Embassy spokesman said the American passenger was a woman who specializes in health clinics. He added that it was not clear whether the helicopter was shot down or landed after coming under small arms fire, or if the casualties were caused by shooting or a crash landing.

The first phase of the Kabul-Kandahar highway project, the largest reconstruction project in Afghanistan since the Taleban's ouster, has been completed.

President Hamid Karzai sees it as a symbol of how international support and reconstruction can bring Afghans closer together and sideline militants bent on undermining him.

Kandahar used to be the Taleban's stronghold in the mid-1990s before the movement took control of Kabul in 1996.

More than 550 people have died in an insurgency blamed on the militia in less than seven months, and Taleban fighters have vowed to step up the campaign in the run-up to the country's first democratic elections scheduled for June.

Karzai is widely expected to win the vote, although the lack of security in the south and east of the country has raised doubts over the timing of the election.