NATO helicopter crashes in Afghanistan, killing 31 US troops

KABUL: A NATO helicopter crashed in central Afghanistan overnight killing 31 US soldiers and 7 Afghan troops, the Afghan president said on Saturday, a devastating death toll and easily the worst single incident for foreign troops in 10 years of war.

A brief statement from the presidential palace said the helicopter had crashed in central Maidan Wardak province, just to the west of the capital, Kabul, and identified the Americans as special forces troops.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai "shared his deep sorrow and sadness" with US counterpart Barack Obama and the families of the US and Afghan victims, the statement said.

The Taliban claimed to have shot down the troop-carrying Chinook helicopter during a firefight and killed 38 soldiers. The Islamist group also said in a statement that eight insurgents had been killed in torrid fighting.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed a helicopter had crashed but gave no further details.

The high casualties come only two weeks after the start of a gradual process of handing security responsibility from foreign forces to Afghan troops and police, and at a time of growing unease about the increasingly unpopular and costly war.

That process is due to end with all foreign combat troops leaving Afghanistan by the end of 2014, but some US lawmakers have already questioned whether that handover is fast enough.

Incidents with heavy death tolls are sure to raise even more questions about the transition process and how much longer foreign troops should stay.

The crash was by far the worst incident of the war for foreign troops and easily surpassed the worst incidents of battlefield losses.

In April 2005, another CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed, killing 15 US servicemen and three civilian contractors. Another Chinook crash in June the same year killed 17 US troops.

Copyright Reuters, 2011