Kandahar: Five US troops fighting Islamist insurgents in southern Afghanistan were killed in a helicopter crash in bad weather, the coalition and provincial authorities said on Tuesday.
Police in the province of Kandahar said the Black Hawk helicopter came down late yesterday during a heavy rainstorm in Daman district.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) does not release the nationality of casualties, but a Western military official who declined to be named confirmed that the victims were all US forces personnel.
“The cause of the crash is under investigation. However, initial reporting indicates there was no enemy activity in the area at the time,” ISAF said in a statement. A spokesman said that all on board the helicopter had died in the crash.
A Taliban representative in Kandahar said the militants had brought down the aircraft, although the group often makes false claims of responsibility for incidents in which NATO troops die. (AFP)
