A crash involving a US military helicopter in the southern Afghan desert last night has killed at least 16 people.
The CH-47 Chinook was returning to the US base at Bagram from a mission in the militant-plagued south when it went down near Ghazni city, 80 miles southwest of the capital, Kabul.
US spokeswoman
An Afghan official said most of the dead appeared to be Americans. It was the worst military crash since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001.
"Indications are it was bad weather and that there were no survivors," said a US spokeswoman. An Afghan official said there were no signs the craft was shot down.
The US military said 16 deaths had been confirmed and two other people listed on the flight manifest were "unaccounted for" when the recovery operation was suspended at nightfall.