U.S. helicopter crash kills 8 troops in Afghanistan

A U.S. military helicopter crashed before dawn Sunday in southern Afghanistan, killing eight American service members and injuring the remaining 14 aboard, military officials said.

The pilot had reported an unexplained loss of power shortly before the twin-rotor CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter plunged to the ground in Zabol province, which lies between the Afghan capital, Kabul, and the southern city of Kandahar.

It was the first U.S. military helicopter crash involving multiple fatalities since May, when 10 troops were killed in eastern Kunar province as the pilot tried to land on a mountaintop in the dark. In July, the crash of an Apache helicopter as it was taking off from the NATO base outside Kandahar killed one crew member.

The Sunday crash was also the deadliest single incident this year for U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces in Afghanistan.

The U.S. military said there was no indication that the crash was caused by insurgent fire, although the Taliban is known to be active in the area. The guerrillas are expected to intensify their fight against allied troops as mountain snows melt and the weather improves.

Unlike in Iraq, where the downing of U.S. helicopters has emerged as a prime tactic of the insurgents, the Taliban has demonstrated little ability to menace allied aircraft. Only one U.S. helicopter is thought to have been brought down by hostile fire in Afghanistan, in 2005.

Sixteen U.S. service members died in that crash, which was apparently caused by a rocket strike.

Rough terrain and often-turbulent weather pose substantial dangers to military aviation in Afghanistan. A mixture of rain and snow lashed parts of Zabol overnight, and the provincial governor, Dilber Jan Arman, said through a spokesman that poor conditions might have been a factor.

“It was rainy and snowy,” said the spokesman, Gulab Shah Ali Khail. “We don’t believe the crash was caused by enemy fire.”

The governor said another American helicopter was also operating in the area at the time. U.S. military officials did not confirm the presence of a second craft.

Allied troops and Afghan soldiers cordoned off the scene of the crash, which scattered smoking wreckage within sight of the main Kabul-Kandahar highway. Passing vehicles were stopped and searched while troops combed the area.

The American military declined to release any details about where the helicopter had taken off, where it was bound or what its mission was. There is a NATO base in Zabol, at the site of an ancient fortress deep in the high desert, and troops and supplies are often ferried in from Kandahar airfield, the main allied base in the south.

The allied military effort in Afghanistan is highly dependent on helicopter transport of troops and supplies. There are very few serviceable roads in mountainous areas, distances are great, and military ground transport is vulnerable to roadside bombings and suicide attacks.

Fear of potential suicide bombings leaves troops in a state of hair-trigger alert, sometimes with tragic consequences for Afghan civilians.

In separate incidents Saturday and Sunday near Kandahar, two Afghan men were shot to death by NATO troops who feared they might be trying to carry out bombings, authorities said.

Military officials said one of the men darted between stationary vehicles in a military convoy, and the second one ignored shouted warnings to stop as he approached troops. In that incident, allied soldiers mistook straps dangling from the man’s jacket for protruding wires, but no explosives were found, the military said, adding that it regretted the deaths.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly complained that civilian casualties inflame popular resentment against foreign troops and undermine NATO efforts to shore up his government.

Afghan civilians say they generally do not understand troops’ shouted orders, and that warning shots are more inclined to prompt them to flee than halt.

laura.king@latimes.com

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Special correspondent Azimi reported from Kabul and Times staff writer King from Istanbul, Turkey.