Epress.am News from Armenia
A NATO helicopter crashed into a house on the outskirts of the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Friday, killing 12 Turkish soldiers on board, Turkish military has said, Today’s Zaman reports.
A statement posted on the website of the Turkish General Staff said the cause of the accident is yet to be determined by the crash investigation team. The military expressed condolences to the families of the Turkish soldiers killed in the crash.
The crash came amid growing unease among NATO partner countries about the increasingly unpopular and costly war nearly 11 years into the conflict as most foreign combat troops are set to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014. “The helicopter crashed into a house in the Bagrami district of Kabul due to technical problems,” an Afghan officer earlier told Reuters.
The Associated Press earlier quoted Afghan police as saying the crash killed 10 people, including eight on board the aircraft and two civilians on the ground. Authorities were trying to determine the nationalities of the people onboard the helicopter when it crashed, said Mohammad Zahir, head of Kabul’s criminal investigation department.
One of the homes hit by the helicopter collapsed, Zahir stated. Rescue workers were searching through the wreckage to determine whether there were any more casualties, he added.
Unlike other European members of the NATO-led coalition, Turkey’s mission is limited to patrols and its soldiers do not take part in combat operations. In January, six US Marines were killed in a helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan, which followed the death of 30 American personnel, including 22 Navy SEAL commandos, in eastern Afghanistan in August last year.