KABUL, Afghanistan – A U.S. military helicopter crashed Sunday in a mountainous area plagued by Taliban violence, killing all five American crew members. The U.S. military said there was no sign it had been shot down.
The crash of the Chinook helicopter is the third this year involving the large troop-carrying choppers that have proved essential in battling a reinvigorated insurgency in remote, largely inaccessible parts of Afghanistan.
A purported Taliban spokesman claimed the rebels shot down the CH-47 helicopter, but U.S. military spokesman Col. James Yonts said, “Indications are there wasn’t any hostile fire.”
He said the chopper was part of a convoy of aircraft in the area and other pilots did not see it come under fire.
“We are just taking a hard look at this investigation to see exactly what did cause the crash. It could be mechanical (failure),” he said.
American ground forces reached the crash site near Daychopan in Zabul province and were providing security for recovery operations, Yonts said.
The aircraft was returning to a U.S. base after dropping off troops for an anti-militant operation near Daychopan, Yonts said. A spokesman for Zabul’s governor, Gulab Shah, said no fighting took place in the area Sunday and that the weather was fine.
The deaths bring to 195 the number of U.S. military service members killed in and around Afghanistan since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban in late 2001, including 79 this year during a major upsurge in violence.
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