Community | October 26, 2009 | 3 comments

DEA personnel, embassy staff among 14 dead in Afghan chopper crash

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Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Drug Enforcement Administration personnel were among 14 Americans killed in two helicopter crashes in Afghanistan on Monday, said a U.S. military official with access to information about the crash.

The official did not know how many DEA personnel were killed. Three of the American dead were civilians. NATO's International Security Assistance Force said that in all, 10 people died in one incident and four in the other.

It was the largest number of Americans killed in Afghanistan in a single day in more than four years, according to CNN records.

ISAF ruled out enemy fire in the crash that killed four Americans and said that enemy action was not thought to be the cause of the other.

In the deadlier crash, a helicopter went down in the west of the country after a raid on suspected drug traffickers. Seven U.S. service members and three U.S. civilians were killed, according to an ISAF statement. Fourteen Afghan service members, 11 U.S. service members and one U.S. civilian were injured in the crash.

The American civilians who died were members of the "U.S. Embassy community," according to the embassy in Kabul.

The helicopter was returning from a raid on a compound, ISAF had said earlier.

The joint international security force killed more than a dozen enemy fighters while searching a compound, ISAF said. The site was thought to harbor insurgents tied to narcotics trafficking in western Afghanistan.

The militants were killed in a firefight when insurgents confronted the joint force.

As the force was leaving, a helicopter "went down due to unconfirmed reasons," ISAF said. A recovery operation was launched.

In Monday's other deadly crash, four U.S. service members were killed when two helicopters apparently collided in the air in southern Afghanistan. Two other NATO service members were injured.

"The incident is currently being investigated, but it is confirmed that hostile fire was not involved," ISAF said in an earlier news release.
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    Community,   Afghanistan News
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    Afghanistan DEA Helicopter
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