NATO chopper crash in eastern Afghanistan kills 2

A NATO helicopter crashed Sunday in eastern Afghanistan, killing two service members in the third such fatal incident in the past three weeks, Western military officials said.

The Taliban movement claimed responsibility, saying it had downed a Western chopper in the Sabari district of Khost province, near the Pakistan border. However, the insurgents routinely claim to have shot down any NATO aircraft that crashes. Military officials said the cause of the crash was under investigation.

NATO’s International Security Force did not release the nationalities or identities of the two killed, in keeping with usual practice. Most of the troops serving in Afghanistan’s east are Americans.

Earlier in the day, the Western military announced the death of another service member, in the country’s south.

The latest deaths came as Defense Secretary Robert Gates was making a farewell visit to Afghanistan prior to retiring. On Sunday, he traveled to see troops in the south, which has been the site of fierce fighting over the past year.

In Afghanistan as a whole, violence has been ratcheting upward in recent weeks. May was this year’s most lethal month for Western troops, with 57 NATO service members killed, according to the website icasualties.org, which tracks battlefield fatalities in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Gates’ visit coincides with the Obama administration’s finalizing of decisions on U.S. troop drawdowns to begin next month. Commanders have said the scale of the pullback will depend on conditions on the ground.

The NATO force has claimed substantial military gains in the key provinces of Helmand and Kandahar, but insurgents have fought back with a campaign of assassinations of Afghan government officials and suicide attacks focusing on government installations and public places.

Those attacks have caused scores of deaths and injuries in recent weeks. Most of the victims have been Afghan civilians.

laura.king@latimes.com