There is a video of the event on Al-Masdar and they claim; and the video seems to support, that it was a malfunction/misfire of one the helicopters own missiles.
I certainly do not see any sign or trail of any enemy weapon. Maybe younger sharper eyes will do better?
Video is embedded in link
Doesn't fit the video.
There are two scenarios here,
A) the helicopter was hit by incoming ground fire (MANPAD), or
B) it blew itself up with its down rockets/missiles
Let's examine scenario B first. So, if the gunship shot itself down, the three flashes before the big explosion are the helicopter firing its rocket pods.
Could anyone detect any visible smoke trail from those rockets with the mountain in the background killing contrast?
If we couldn't see the gunship's rockets smoke trails, why would we be able to see the smoke trail of a SAM any better?
Also, the mind boggles at the kind of physicals required that could cause a rocket to backflip and nail the tail rotor of the launch helicopter like that.
Swinging back to scenario A, if the helicopter was hit by a missile, then the three rapid sets of flashes before impact were likely not the gunship's own rockets, but it's automated self defence suit picking up the heat trail of an incoming missile and popping flares (which would also explain the tail hit if the incoming missile was partially diverted).
Unless the second gunship has gun camera footage that shows rockets doing physicals defying backflips, I think the balance of evidence and probability would strongly suggest this was a shoot down.
