US helicopter crashes in Afghanistan, hunt for survivors begins
 

KABUL, Wednesday (AFP)

Rescuers prepared Wednesday to hunt for possible surivors after a US Chinook helicopter crashed while carrying an uncertain number of troops on a mission to battle insurgents in eastern Afghanistan.

Taliban rebels claimed responsibility for bringing down the helicopter, but a US military statement said it was not known what caused the crash Tuesday in Kunar province near the Pakistani border.

The fate of those on board the helicopter was equally unclear. "A US CH-47 helicopter crashed west of Asadabad today while it was transporting additional forces into an area in support of US forces currently conducting counter-terrorism operations," a military statement said.

A spokesman for the ousted Taliban regime claimed responsibility for shooting down the helicopter in Kunar, which has been a traditional stronghold of Taliban and other Islamic militants.

"We shot down a helicopter in Kunar," Taliban spokesman Mullah Abdul Latif Hakimi told AFP by satellite phone from an undisclosed location.

The United States said the "cause of the crash and the state of the survivors," remained unclear.