No Enemy Activity In The Area Where The Helicopter Went Down

A Black Hawk helicopter has gone down in Afghanistan resulting in the fatal injury of five U.S. service personnel, according to Pentagon sources.

CNN reports that the aircraft went down Monday during a rainstorm in southern Kandahar. There was no enemy activity reported in the area where the accident occurred. It is the first time a coalition helicopter accident has resulted in fatalities since August, 2012. Two separate accidents that month resulted in the loss of 11 troops.

The French news service AFP reports that the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement that "(t)he cause of the crash is under investigation. However, initial reporting indicates there was no enemy activity in the area at the time." Taliban leaders claimed that militants had shot down the aircraft.

The ISAF does not release the nationality of those fatally injured as a matter of policy, but a western military official who spoke under condition of anonymity confirmed that all aboard the Black Hawk were U.S. military personnel.

(Black Hawk helicopter image from file)

FMI: www.isaf.nato.int