Five US soldiers die in helicopter crash riddle

A transport helicopter packed with American soldiers crashed near a military base just north of the Afghan capital of Kabul, killing at least five of them and wounding seven others, the US military said.

The cause of the crash, about seven miles east of Bagram Air Base, was not immediately known.

The US military said it was investigating, and it refused to take journalists from the base to the crash site.

But reporters found the wreckage in a remote area. It was broken into three pieces, some of which had fallen into a river bed. About 15 US soldiers were guarding the site, and banned photographs and filming.

“I saw the helicopter crashing, breaking into pieces and catching fire. Part of it fell into the river bed here,” Maraj Jan, a local resident, said.

At Bagram Air Base, US military spokesman Major Richard Sater said the plane was an MH-53 transport helicopter and confirmed that it was involved in an ongoing military operation, dubbed Mountain Resolve, taking place in the east of the country.

Mountain Resolve has been going on since November 7 in eastern Nuristan and Kunar provinces, but so far no major skirmishes with suspected Taliban and al-Qaida holdouts have taken place.

In another incident, a coalition vehicle struck a land mine while patrolling an area of Afghanistan near the Pakistani border, seriously wounding two American soldiers, including one who lost one of his legs.