The Taliban militants who shot down a U.S. military helicopter in Afghanistan, leaving 30 U.S. and eight Afghan soldiers dead, have been killed by coalition forces, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said Wednesday.

File photo taken on June 4, 2011 shows a U.S. helicopter flying over Kabul, capital of Afghanistan. Thirty International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) service members, one civilian interpreter and seven Afghan commandos were killed when a coalition CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed in east Afghanistan on Saturday.  (Xinhua/Ahmad Massoud)
Gen. John Allen, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, told reporters at the Pentagon that coalition forces dealt with the militants "in a kinetic strike."

"At approximately midnight on 8th August, coalition forces killed the Taliban insurgents responsible for this attack," he said.

Some 30 U.S. troops were killed when a CH-47 Chinook helicopter was shot down by a Taliban rocket propelled grenade on Saturday -- the most deadly single attack since the beginning of the Afghanistan war in 2001.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet