Spanish soldiers killed as NATO chopper crashes in Afghanistan

A number of Spanish soldiers were killed and injured as a helicopter of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) crashed in west Afghanistan Tuesday, spokesman of the multinational force said.

"At 1:00 pm this afternoon in the western of Heart province, a Spanish helicopter crashed and the second helicopter was forced to land but the number of killed and wounded is not clear," Andy Elmes told journalists here at ISAF's Headquarters.

However, he declined to disclose the exact number of causalities in the deadly incident.

"A number of soldiers were killed and injured. We understand that Spanish soldiers were among those killed," he asserted.

Both the helicopters, he said, were part Election Support Forces operating with ISAF to stabilize the security for the upcoming Afghan parliamentary elections scheduled for Sept. 18.

NATO has committed to deploy 2,000 more troops ahead of the first legislative polls in the post Taliban nation to enable Afghans to cast their votes in a peaceful environment.

Over 8,000-strong ISAF troops with majority of whom in the Afghan capital have tasked to stabilize peace security in the war- torn central Asian state. The cause of today's chopper crash has yet to be determined.

"ISAF believes that this is the result of the accident," Elmes emphasized. However, he noted that the multinational force would make the result public soon after the investigation is complete.

In the meantime, official sources in the area do not rule the involvement of hostile fire in the deadly incident and say both the copters were on their why to the neighboring Farah province when met the disaster.

It was the second time that Spanish soldiers had been facing disaster in Afghanistan after the deployment of ISAF three and half years ago.

More than 60 Spanish's ISAF troopers lost their lives on way home when their plane crashed in Turkey two years ago.

Source: Xinhua