LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan -- Two Afghan army helicopters collided while transporting wounded soldiers as fighting against Taliban militants flared up in the southern Helmand province, killing nine Afghan service members, the country's Defense Ministry and officials said Wednesday.
The two Soviet-era Mi-17 helicopters crashed because of technical problems while taking off in Nawa district late Tuesday, the Afghan Defense Ministry statement said. The nine dead were all Afghan crew and soldiers on board the two aircraft.
The crash occurred during a new wave of fighting in Helmand province between the Afghan military and Taliban insurgents. The Taliban control roughly 80% of Helmand, and in the past year have waged several attacks on the capital, Lashkar Gah, only to be repulsed by Afghan security forces, whose control is largely restricted to district centers.
Attacks in other parts of the country Wednesday killed at least six Afghan security forces and eight civilians.
Gen. Assadullah Khalid, Afghanistan's acting defense minister, visited Lashkar Gah on Wednesday to discuss the security situation in Helmand province, a Defense Ministry statement said.
Omer Zwak, a spokesman for Helmand's provincial governor, said Taliban fighters have set up coordinated attacks in different parts of Helmand province over the past week, which have intensified in recent days.
The complex attacks appeared to have been planned before President Donald Trump tweeted last Wednesday that he wanted to bring all U.S. troops home by Christmas.
Zwak also said the helicopters that crashed Tuesday were carrying wounded troops. Three officials in Helmand province said the helicopters were deploying Afghan commandos to repel a Taliban attack in Nawa district, and were evacuating wounded soldiers on their return flight. The Afghan officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media about military activities.
On Monday, American forces said they had carried out several airstrikes in Helmand province in support of Afghan security forces under attack by the Taliban.
Col. Sonny Leggett, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Afghanistan, said Monday that the recent Taliban attacks in Helmand were "not consistent" with a U.S.-Taliban deal signed in February and undermine ongoing intra-Afghan peace talks. He said the airstrikes do not violate the February deal.
In the terms of the deal, the Taliban pledged to avoid attacking Afghan cities, reduce violence in general and cut ties with terror groups. In return, the United States agreed to gradually withdraw all troops by next May, as long as the insurgents continued to meet those conditions.
In the months since the pact was signed, the insurgents have unleashed a nationwide surge of violence, killing thousands of Afghan civilians and troops, but have stopped short of full-fledged assaults on cities.
Thousands of civilians have fled Nawa and Nad Ali districts because of the fighting, said Atiqullah, a community leader from Nawa district, who like many Afghans goes by just one name.
In northern Afghanistan, a gunbattle broke out after militants attacked security checkpoints in Guzerga-i Noor district of Baghlan province, killing at least six security personnel and wounding two others, said Jawed Basharat, a spokesman for the provincial police chief.
He blamed the Taliban for the attack and said reinforcements were dispatched to the still-raging battle.
The Taliban did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the fighting in Baghlan.
In the western Herat province, at least five small children were killed and 10 civilians wounded when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb, said Jilani Farhad, spokesman for the provincial governor.
He said the civilians were traveling to a wedding in another village in Kush-i Kohna district when the blast struck their vehicle.
In the eastern province of Laghman, three civilians were killed and 14 more wounded by a magnetic explosive device attached to a police vehicle, said Shafiullah Afghanyar, a provincial police spokesman.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for either bombing in Herat and Laghman provinces.
"The Taliban control 14 districts in Helmand. They can capture areas any time they want. They only did this to show their force to the Americans," Hadia Helmandi, a women's rights leader, said on ToloNews TV. "This was a massive attack that displaced thousands of poor people. They planted bombs along the highways. The generals are saying the Afghan defense forces are ready to defend us against enemy attacks, but why was nobody paying attention?"
Information for this article was contributed by Abdul Khaliq and Rahim Faiez of The Associated Press; and by Pamela Constable and Sharif Hassan of The Washington Post.