14 Americans Dead In Afghanistan Helicopter Crashes

Just awful.

Fourteen Americans -- 11 of them military service members -- died in two separate helicopter accidents Monday, officials said, in one of the deadliest days for American forces since they began combat operations in Afghanistan in early 2002.

The first helicopter crashed in Western Afghanistan after leaving a joint operation with NATO and Afghan forces against insurgents and suspected drug traffickers, officials said. That crash killed seven troops and three civilian U.S. government employees who were reportedly connected with anti-drug operations.

In the second accident, two military helicopters collided in mid-air in eastern Afghanistan, killing four U.S. troops, officials said. No other details were provided, but NATO officials also ruled out any hostile attack or foul play.

Officials said the Afghan and American team had searched a compound suspected to "harbor insurgents conducting activities related to narcotics trafficking," said a statement from NATO officials here. It said a firefight broke out and more than a dozen "enemy fighters" were killed. The helicopter crashed after taking off from the undisclosed site.

This is one of the highest single day death tolls in the war and it doesn't even directly invovled enemy action.

posted by DrewM. at 10:58 AM

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