KANDAHAR: At least 17 people, including 12 Afghan army soldiers, were killed on Thursday in a 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 militant activity in the otherwise volatile province of Zabul.

“The Mi17 transport helicopter crashed, killing 17 people including 12 Afghan army soldiers and five crewmembers. It was not an insurgent attack, it crashed due to technical difficulties,” a senior army commander in southern Afghanistan said.

The Taliban claimed to have shot down the chopper with a rocket launcher, but Shinkay district chief Mohammad Qasim Khan attributed the crash to a technical fault.

Published in Dawn, August 7th, 2015

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