WASHINGTON, June 30 (Xinhuanet) -- The Pentagon confirmed Thursdaythat all 16 troops aboard the helicopter that crashed in Afghanistan on Tuesday were killed.

    "At this point, we have recovered all 16 bodies of those service men who were onboard the MH-47 helicopter that crashed on Tuesday," Lieutenant General James Conway, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Pentagon news briefing.

    Conway said the Chinook helicopter appeared to be shot down by an unguided rocket-propelled grenade. The Taliban had claimed it shot down the aircraft.

    The helicopter was carrying forces as part of Operation Red Wing against al Qaeda militants as it crashed in the snow-covered mountains near Asadabad in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region.

    Conway said it was the first helicopter to be shot down in Afghanistan since 2001. The casualties were also the heaviest for US forces in combat in Afghanistan. Enditem