Military helicopter crash kills 17 soldiers, pilots

At least 17 people have been killed in a military helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan.

The Afghan defence ministry said the military helicopter went down due to a technical fault in Shinkay, a district relatively free of insurgent activity in the otherwise volatile province of Zabul.

According to details the crash was caused by a technical problem however an in depth investigation is underway at defense ministry. An Afghan official says a suicide bomber exploded a truck loaded with explosives outside provincial government offices in the country’s east, killing many people and wounding a dozen.

The crash is among the deadliest for the fledgling Afghan air force, which is among the security forces now tasked with fighting the lingering insurgency after the NATO-led coalition declared an end to its combat mission at the end of 2014.

“Maintenance is a serious issue for the Afghan Air force and it is hurting their ability to provide air support to ground forces”, Smith told AFP.

Din Mohammad Darwish, spokesman for the governor of Logar province, near Kabul, said the dead from Thursday’s attack included three police officers and five civilians.

In fact, the recent reports about Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar’s death stated that he had been buried in Zabul, which is in southern Afghanistan.

In an email to journalists, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the Logar attack.