KABUL - Five crew members were killed when a US military helicopter crashed on Sunday in strife-torn southeastern Afghanistan, but there were no indications hostile fire brought the chopper down, the US military said.The cause of the crash in insurgency-hit Zabul province was unknown but there were âno indications of hostile fire involved at this time,â it said in a statement. The CH-47 Chinook was supporting operations in the area at the time of the crash, the military said. US ground forces were at the scene providing security for the recovery operation, it said.
Deh Chopan has been the scene of some of the fiercest clashes between US and Afghan government forces and their opponents from the hardline Taleban regime, which was ousted in a US-led campaign in 2001.