KABUL, Afghanistan — A helicopter carrying international troops crashed in a rugged section of southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing nine servicemen in the deadliest such incident in four years for coalition forces.
A “large number” of Americans were among the dead, according to a senior military official in Washington, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
One other coalition serviceman, an Afghan national army soldier and a U.S. civilian were wounded.
The coalition would not disclose the helicopter’s mission, and the cause of the crash was not immediately clear. NATO said there were no reports of enemy fire in the early morning hours in the Daychopan district of Zabul province, where the crash took place.
However, Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi told The Associated Press by telephone that insurgents shot down the helicopter. The Taliban often exaggerate their claims and sometimes take credit for accidents.
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“The Taliban are not involved in this crash at all,” said Mohammad Jan Rasoolyar, aspokesman for the provincial governor in Zabul.
“The investigation is still going on, but the military told us that the helicopter crashed due to technical problems.”
Another coalition serviceman died after a separate explosion in southern Afghanistan, the coalition said. No further details were available.
So far this year, at least 524 U.S. and NATO troops have been killed in Afghanistan, surpassing the 504 killed last year. This year has been the deadliest for international forces since the war began in 2001.
Tuesday’s helicopter crash took place not far from Chanaryan village, but there was no damage to buildings, Rasoolyar said. U.S. and Romanian forces make up most of the NATO contingent in Zabul province.
Aircraft are used extensively in Afghanistan by both NATO and the Afghan government forces to transport and supply troops because the terrain is mountainous and roadsare few and primitive.
Lacking shoulder-fired missiles and other anti-aircraft weapons, the Taliban rely mostly on machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades to fire at aircraft during takeoffs and landings.
Tuesday’s crash was the deadliest since May 2006, when a Chinook helicopter went down while attempting a nighttime landing on a small mountaintop in eastern Kunar province, killing 10 U.S. soldiers.
One of the heaviest single-day losses of life for allied forces in Afghanistan occurred on June 28, 2005, when 16 U.S. troops died aboard a Special Forces MH-47 Chinook helicopter shot down by insurgents in Kunar province.
Also on Tuesday, suspected U.S. missiles struck on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, killing at least 19 suspected militants, according to three Pakistani intelligence officials. They said seven of the deaths were in Afghanistan and 12 in Pakistan. The second strike hit the compound in Pakistan where bodies from the first strike were taken.
In Afghanistan, NATO said it had no reports of such an incident. U.S. officials rarely discuss the covert CIA-led missile program.
Two of the three Pakistani intelligence officials said the militants belonged to an insurgent group led by Maulvi Nazir. Nazir is believed to have an agreement with Pakistani authorities that they will leave him alone so long as his men avoid attacks on Pakistani soil.
The Pakistani officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media on the record.
Meanwhile, a joint NATO and Afghan force has arrested an Afghan journalist in the eastern region of Ghazni, saying it is investigating suspicions he may have been too close to Taliban militants.
Family members of the journalist, Rahmatullah Naikzad, strongly denied the allegations that he may have spread insurgent propaganda and filmed attacks tied to last weekend’s parliamentary elections. The NATO statement announcing his detention did not detail any of the accusations.
He is an ethnic Tajik, a group that tends to be hostile to the Taliban.
Information for this article was contributed by Mirwais Khan, Rahim Faiez, Eric Talmadge, Anne Gearan and Monika Mathur of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 6 on 09/22/2010