NATO says hostile fire may have caused chopper crash

KABUL, May 31 (Reuters) NATO forces in Afghanistan today said Taliban fire may have brought down its military helicopter in which the alliance says seven soldiers were killed, but the Taliban say 35.

The twin-rotor Chinook crashed in the southern province of Helmand, scene of a series of bloody fights between Taliban and Western forces in recent months, and a long-time key bastion of the Taliban.

''It was a hostile area where the helicopter went down,'' Major John Thomas, a spokesman for NATO in Afghanistan, told Reuters.

''And initial indications are that enemy fire may have brought down the helicopter.'' Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf said the death toll came from secret sources operating in Helmand. Taliban claims on foreign deaths are often exaggerated.

He said the helicopter was flying low ahead of a land vehicle convoy when it was shot down.

''Actually, mujahideen (holy warriors) planned to ambush their convoy,'' Yousuf said by telephone from an undisclosed location. ''But the helicopter appeared before the arrival of the convoy. The mujahideen fired on it with what ever they had.'' NATO said seven soldiers, five of whom were Americans, were killed when the Chinook crashed late on Wednesday in Helmand.

Chinook crashes in Afghanistan have killed at least 55 U.S.

soldiers in the last two years.

Helmand has long been a Taliban stronghold and it is the leading drug-producing region of Afghanistan, the world's main heroin producer.

The Chinook came down in the Kajaki region where the Afghan government is seeking to tighten security in order to rebuild a dam and hydro-electric project.

Taliban leaders have threatened in recent weeks to step up attacks on foreign troops and said they have trained hundreds of suicide bombers to carry out attacks.

Last year's fighting between Western forces and the militants was the bloodiest since the US-led overthrow of the Taliban in 2001.

The guerrillas are largely active in southern and eastern areas of Afghanistan, where more than 5,000 people have been killed in the past 16 months. The violence is rising despite the presence of nearly 50,000 foreign troops led by NATO and the US military as well as about 100,000 Afghan security forces.

REUTERS SM DS1403