US military helicopter crashes in Afghanistan

KABUL - A big US military helicopter carrying up to 20 American troops crashed during an anti-guerrilla mission in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, US officials said.

The fate of those on board was not immediately known.

Afghan officials said the Chinook helicopter was hit by a rocket, but a US military statement said it was not known what caused the crash in Kunar province near the Pakistani border.

In Washington, a US defence official at the Pentagon, who asked not to be identified, said according to preliminary reports, the helicopter was carrying 15 to 20 American troops.

He cautioned that information from the mountainous region was sketchy.

Asadullah Wafa, the governor of Kunar province, said the Chinook was hit by a rocket in Wotapoor district, about 8km from the provincial capital Asadabad. "But I don't know if it crashed there or somewhere else," he said.

The twin-rotor CH-47 was transporting troops into an area in support of US forces, the US military said in a statement.

"The cause of the crash and status of survivors is unknown at this time," it said. "US fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters are currently providing close air support to the forces on the ground."

A US military spokesman in Afghanistan, Lieutenant-Colonel Jerry O'Hara, said he had no further details.

The US Army says a Chinook is capable of carrying three crew and 33 troops. It was the second crash of a US military CH-47 in Afghanistan in less than three months.

Another crashed in a dust storm southwest of Kabul while on a routine mission on April 6, killing 18 people, including 16 military personnel, the deadliest military air accident since Washington first deployed troops to the country in 2001.

At least 14 other US soldiers have been killed in increased militant activity since March aimed at derailing September 18 parliamentary elections, the next big step in Afghanistan's difficult path to stability.

Earlier on Tuesday, roadside bombs, including one that exploded near Asadabad, killed five policeman, one of them a Kunar district police chief.

Several rockets also landed near a UN-Afghan election commission office in Asadabad, causing no casualties or damage.

Government spokesman Jawed Ludin vowed the elections would be held on schedule despite militant violence and would be even more successful than October's presidential ballot won by US-backed Hamid Karzai.

"The (guerrilla) challenges are very feeble," he said.

"They are very small compared with the increasing capability of our own forces, compared with the combined capability of the international community that's there to help us and compared to the will of the Afghan people."

He said fighting in the southwest last week showed the weakness of the Taleban, ousted from power by US-led forces in late 2001.

- REUTERS