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NATO helicopter crashes in Afghanistan

24 March 2010 00:39 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. A NATO helicopter crashed in southern Afghanistan Tuesday with Turkish soldiers on board, but the military alliance denied that anyone had been killed, APA reports quoting AFP.
The military chopper came down on the outskirts of Wardak town, capital of the province of the same name south of Kabul, at around 10.30 am (0600 GMT), provincial spokesman Shahidullah Shahid told AFP.
He said one of the Turkish soldiers on board was killed and three others injured but NATO denied there were any deaths.
"There are no fatalities," said Lieutenant Colonel Todd Vician, spokesman for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
He said that four or possibly five people had been injured according to initial investigations.
The crash happened as two helicopters were landing at a Turkish-run base, Shahid said, adding that both belonged to NATO member Turkey.
One crashed into a hillside near the base, known as a provincial reconstruction team (PRT), while the other landed safely, he said.
"One Turkish soldier has been killed and three injured in the helicopter crash today," he told AFP.
The injured were in a critical condition, he said, and had been evacuated by helicopter to the capital, Kabul.
A witness said the chopper’s rotor blades had apparently clipped the side of the hill, after which it began to spin out of control while hovering just above the ground.
"We were watching the two helicopters as they were both hovering to land, one did land and the other all of a sudden hit the hills nearby, and smoke started coming out of the back and the blades started falling apart and flying everywhere," said the witness, Mohammad Zarif.
"We could see that one soldier was lying on the ground and three others were inside," he added.
Turkey has 1,835 troops in Afghanistan, according to NATO, and controls the PRT in Wardak, which has been a relative hotspot for insurgent activity.
PRTs are playing a pivotal role in the new counter-insurgency strategy for speeding an end to the Afghan war, coordinating military and civilian efforts.
The insurgency has been intensifying over the past year, as the Taliban has spread its footprint to gain a permanent presence in up to 80 percent of the country, according to experts.
NATO and the United States are boosting troops figures to 150,000 in coming months, as counter-insurgency efforts peak.