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Helicopter crashes kill 14 Americans

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-10-26 18:24

KABUL: Two helicopter crashes in Afghanistan killed 11 US soldiers and three US civilians on Monday, NATO-led forces said in a statement.

Neither crash was caused by hostile fire, NATO said.

This year has seen a surge of violence in Afghanistan as an increasingly fierce Taliban step up operations against US and NATO forces operating in the country.

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Seven US service members and three US civilians were killed when a NATO helicopter crashed in western Afghanistan following an operation against insurgents in which a dozen Taliban fighters were killed.

Eleven US troops, 14 Afghan soldiers and a US civilian were injured in the crash.

Four US service members were killed and two were injured when two helicopters operated by NATO-led troops collided in mid-air in southern Afghanistan, NATO said in an earlier statement.

On Saturday in eastern Afghanistan, one US soldier was killed in a roadside bomb attack and another died of wounds from an insurgent attack, NATO said in a statement on Monday.

A spokeswoman for ISAF, the International Security Assistance Force, could not give any further information on the casualties or the exact location of the crashes.