U.S. helicopter crashes in Afghanistan, killing 1 service member

USPA News - One American service member was killed late on Wednesday when a coalition helicopter crashed in southern Afghanistan, but the cause of the crash was not immediately known, U.S. and NATO officials said on Thursday, just a month after another deadly chopper crash. The latest accident happened Wednesday evening when a coalition helicopter crashed in Afghanistan`s southern region, which was the birthplace of the Taliban movement nearly two decades ago.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) declined to provide other details about the crash, including the exact location. "An International Security Assistance Force service member died as a result of a helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan [on] Wednesday. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends affected by this tragic event," the military alliance said in a brief e-mailed statement. Though ISAF declined to confirm the nationality of the service member, a U.S. defense official at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. confirmed a U.S. service member had been killed in the crash. Neither the U.S. official nor ISAF could say whether others were injured, what type of helicopter was involved, and what may have been the cause of the crash. Wednesday`s deadly crash comes just over a month after five British service members were killed when a Westland Lynx Mk.9 helicopter crashed near an airbase in Chaghri village in Takhta Pul district of Kandahar province, also in southern Afghanistan. The Taliban claimed its fighters had shot down the aircraft, but British officials said there was no evidence that enemy action was involved. There are currently more than 50,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, including some 32,800 U.S. troops and 5,200 British service members. Most foreign troops are scheduled to leave the war-torn country by the end of the year, but a security deal expected to be signed by Afghanistan`s next president will likely keep American troops in the country until the end of 2016.