Foreign military helicopter crashes in Afghan

Kabul, July 10: A foreign military helicopter crashed in Afghanistan's eastern province of Laghman today, government sources said, but there was no word on any casualties.

''The helicopter crashed in the Ali Nigar district and people have gone to the site,'' a provincial official, who declined to be identified, told Reuters. ''We do not know if there were any casualties.'' The cause of the crash and the type of helicopter could not be immediately ascertained.

But a US military spokesman denied there had been any crash.

''All coalition aircraft are accounted for,'' the spokesman said, adding he was referring to both the NATO-led and US-led forces in the region, which is a bastion for Taliban insurgents.

A NATO spokesman said he had no word of any crash.

In late May, Taliban guerrillas shot down a NATO Chinook helicopter in the southern province of Helmand, killing seven soldiers.

Reuters>