Agence France-Presse,
HERAT, Afghanistan: An Afghan army helicopter crashed in western Afghanistan Thursday, killing all 13 on board including a top general in the force's worst such incident since the end of Taliban rule, officials said.
The helicopter, carrying a delegation of senior Afghan National Army (ANA) officers, came down in bad weather in the Adraskan district of Herat province, defence officials said.
“The commander of Zafar military corps, General Fazel Ahmad Sayar, together with 12 other ANA members, were on their way from Herat to Farah province when due to bad weather their helicopter crashed,” the defence ministry said.
“All those on board were martyred,” it said in a statement.
Ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi told AFP it was the worst such crash for the fledgling Afghan army since the ouster of the Taliban in late 2001.
The delegation had been en route to neighbouring Farah province to visit an army base, defence officials said. The crash site was about 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of Herat city.
Basir Khan Ghori, spokesman for the 207th Zafar (Success) military corps, said the helicopter had crashed into a mountain in poor weather, and confirmed the general's death.
“There is very thick cloud cover and fog in the area where the crash took place,” Ghori told AFP. “The helicopter hit a mountain peak. All the bodies were burnt.”
But another defence ministry official said on condition of anonymity that it was not clear if the Russian-designed Mi-17 chopper crashed because of the weather or if it was brought down by “enemy fire.”
Besides the commander, the dead included the corps operations chief, its telecommunications chief, five bodyguards, four crew and the commander's chief of staff, he said.
Ghori said the bodies had all been recovered and transported to Herat city.
Sayar, in his 50s, was a parachute specialist, he said.
The international forces working with the Afghan army to fight an insurgency led by Taliban militants have suffered several deadly helicopter crashes, some with higher tolls.
The extremist movement regularly claims to have caused aircraft to crash, including with rocket-propelled grenades, but this has only been confirmed in a few cases.
Afghanistan's army was destroyed in a civil war in the 1990s and is being rebuilt largely with aid and training from the United States, with five corps now established across the country.
The development of the army is considered a priority in efforts to fight the insurgency led by the Taliban, who were in government between 1996 and 2001.
The force now numbers roughly 80,000 men with plans for its expansion to 134,000 by 2012.
The once-proud Soviet-trained air force is also being rebuilt and currently flies about 90 percent of the Afghan army's requirements, with the international forces helping out with the remainder, according to US officials.
The air force has about 23 Mi17 helicopters and eight Antonov cargo planes.
It bought 19 C-27A cargo planes in 2008 and was looking to buy more helicopters, with a final number of 59 envisaged, they said.
