Helicopter crash kills "at least 6" in Afghanistan

By Ismail Sameem

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A helicopter supplying the NATO-led force in southern Afghanistan, scene of a massive operation by U.S. Marines, crashed on Tuesday killing at least six foreigners, alliance officials said.

The Taliban, leading the insurgency against foreign troops and the Afghan government, said it had shot down a Chinook helicopter in southern Helmand province.

The six included civilian contractors and the helicopter was supplying non-military goods to NATO-led force, a spokesman for the force in Kabul said. He did not give details about the identity of those killed or type of the helicopter.

An Afghan official who witnessed the crash told Reuters the helicopter was being used by foreign forces. Spokesmen for the British and U.S. forces said it was a civilian aircraft.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy, Lieutenant-Commander Christine Sidenstricker, said there had been some casualties in the crash in the Sangin district of Helmand.

"We know that there were casualties, but we are still receiving information from the scene and at this time do not have any additional details about them," she told Reuters.

Around 4,000 U.S. Marines and hundreds of NATO and Afghan forces are taking part in an offensive in various parts of Helmand against the Taliban, the biggest by foreign troops since they ousted the Islamist group in 2001.

The operation comes ahead of next month's presidential election, which is crucial both for Kabul and for a U.S. administration that has identified Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan as its top foreign policy priority.