A US military helicopter crashed during an anti-militant operation in Afghanistan today, killing all five American crew members, just days after President Hamid Karzai questioned the need for military operations.
The crash of the CH-47 Chinook in the southern province of Zabul came after a series of clashes between US-led forces and Taliban insurgents following September 18 legislative elections that the guerrillas failed in their vow to derail.
US military spokesman Colonel Jim Yonts said the helicopter crashed in Zabul's Dai Chophan district while returning to base after dropping off troops during an anti-militant operation.
He said it was too early to determine the cause of the crash, but all indications were that hostile fire was not to blame.
"Five crew members on board were killed," he said. "People on the ground have just started a preliminary investigation and recovery operations are under way."
Yonts said that while militant forces were in the area of the operation, the aircraft, part of a flight of helicopters involved in the mission, came down in a rugged, remote area where there was no civilian population.
"Indications are from crew members' ... reports that there was no hostile file that caused this crash," he said, adding that a mechanical problem may have been to blame.
In the past six months four Chinooks have crashed in Afghanistan killing 56 people, mostly American servicemen.
In another incident early today, two guerrillas were killed and two wounded trying to plant a roadside bomb in Helmand province, provincial spokesman Haji Mohammad Wali said.