Afghan copter crash kills 5 US troops: US official

A helicopter belonging to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan has crashed, killing five American soldiers on board, Press TV reported.

The incident took place in Daman district in the southern province of Kandahar on Monday night.

“The cause of the crash is under investigation, however initial reporting indicates there was no enemy activity in the area at the time of the incident,” ISAF said in a statement.

The crash came on the same day that two US soldiers and five Afghan security forces were killed in an “insider attack” in the eastern province of Wardak.

The latest casualties bring the number of US-led soldiers killed in Afghanistan to 18 this year, according to the website icasualties.org.

Last August, seven US soldiers die when a Black Hawk helicopter went down in southern Afghanistan.

The worst such helicopter crash was in August 2011, when the Taliban shot down a CH-47 Chinook, killing all 38 people on board, including 25 US special operations troops.

The US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 under the pretext of combating terrorism. The offensive removed the Taliban from power, but insecurity continues to rise across the country despite the presence of thousands of US-led soldiers.