17 Spanish Troops Dead In Crash

A helicopter belonging to a NATO-led international security force crashed Tuesday in Afghanistan, killing 17 Spanish troops, while a second chopper made an emergency landing, injuring an unspecified number on board, officials said.

The cause of the crash in the desert near the western city of Herat was not immediately known. Spain's defense minister said he did not rule out hostile fire.

A spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Kabul, Maj. Andrew Elmes, said it was too early to know the cause, but it was believed to have been an accident and not due to rebel activity. He said earlier that mechanical failure may have been to blame.

Afghan army commander Abdul Wahab Walizada, whose troops are providing security in the area, said the two choppers came too close while flying and the rotor blade of one hit the other.

In Madrid, a Spanish Defense Ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity according to department policy, said 12 soldiers and five crew died in the accident, but the cause was unknown.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero broke off his vacation in the Canary Islands to return to Madrid and meet with defense ministry officials, his office said.

Elmes declined to comment on the nationality of the troops or how many casualties there were. He said rescuers were on the site, recovering the dead and wounded.

"We do not think the helicopter crashed because of enemy activity. We think it was an accident. We think it crashed into the ground after a mechanical failure, but we are not sure and we are investigating," he said. "The second helicopter landed heavily. There are survivors from that helicopter."

He said both choppers were on a training mission to support legislative elections next month.

Spanish Defense Minister Jose Bono said the crash "could have been an accident or it could have been an attack from the exterior."

He said one of the helicopter pilots reported seeing a column of black smoke in a valley, flew closer to the spot, concluded it might signal an attack from the ground and decided to make an emergency landing.

Bono dismissed the claim by Walizada that the crash happened because the choppers made contact.

Spain has about 800 troops in Afghanistan assisting the NATO-led security force.

The crash was the second major deadly incident involving Spanish troops deployed to Afghanistan. In May 2003, 62 Spanish peacekeepers returning home from Afghanistan died when their Russian-built YAK-42 plane crashed near Trabzon in northwest Turkey. Thirteen Ukrainian and Belarussian crew members of the aircraft also died.

However, the victims of Tuesday's crash were the first Spanish troops to be killed inside Afghanistan, according to the Spanish Defense Ministry.

Tuesday's incident came less than two months after suspected insurgents shot down a U.S. military Chinook helicopter in eastern Kunar province — a hotbed for Taliban and al Qaeda insurgents — near the border with Pakistan. All 16 U.S. forces on board were killed.

In April, 15 U.S. service members and three American civilians were killed when their Chinook went down in a sandstorm while returning to the main U.S. base at Bagram.

NATO's force in Afghanistan includes about 10,000 troops from 36 nations. It maintains security in the capital, Kabul, and the country's north and west. It plans to increase its size by an unspecified amount and take over from the U.S.-led coalition in the violence-wracked south early next year, before gradually moving into the east.

Herat province is largely free of violence by Taliban-led rebels.

In June, suspected insurgents shot down a U.S. military Chinook helicopter in eastern Kunar province — a hotbed for Taliban and al Qaeda insurgents — near the border with Pakistan. All 16 U.S. forces on board were killed.

In April, 15 U.S. service members and three American civilians were killed when their Chinook went down in a sandstorm while returning to the main U.S. base at Bagram.