KABUL, June 29: All 17 US troops aboard an American helicopter that crashed on Tuesday after being hit by ground fire in an anti-militant operation in Afghanistan are believed to have died, a US official said.

A spokesman for the Taliban claimed 35 Americans died in the crash, adding that militants killed seven US ‘spies’ on the ground before the incident.

The casualties from the crash would be the heaviest for US forces in an incident linked to hostile fire in Afghanistan since they invaded to overthrow the Taliban in 2001.

“We presume that all were lost,” said an official in Washington when asked if all those aboard — including elite Seals Special Operations troops — had been killed in the crash.

The official said the twin-rotor CH-47 Chinook was believed to have been hit by a rocket-propelled grenade in mountainous terrain near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan, an attack claimed by the Taliban.—Reuters