Eleven Die In Afghanistan Helicopter Crash

Eleven people have been killed, including seven US soldiers, after a Nato helicopter crashed in Afghanistan - and the Taliban claims it shot down the aircraft.

No UK personnel were involved in the incident, according to the Ministry of Defence.

Afghan authorities said the Black Hawk helicopter came down in the Shah Wali Kot district of Kandahar province.

The area is an insurgent supply route, lying north of Kandahar city, near the volatile Zabul and Uruzgan provinces.

Three members of the Afghan security forces and an Afghan civilian interpreter were among those killed in the incident, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.

"The cause of the crash is under investigation," it added, without giving further details.

A claim by a Taliban spokesman that its insurgents shot down the aircraft has not been verified.

"Our mujahideen (holy warriors) shot down an ISAF helicopter in Chenarto area of Shah Wali Kot district in Kandahar province at around 11am (local time)," Taliban spokesman Qari Yusuf Ahmadi told AFP news agency.

"The helicopter was destroyed and all the crew and soldiers inside the chopper were killed."

Last August, a US Chinook was shot down by the Taliban near Kabul, killing eight Afghans and 30 Americans, including 22 Navy SEALs from the same unit that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in neighbouring Pakistan earlier that year.

It was the deadliest single incident for American troops in 10 years of war in Afghanistan.

On March 17 this year, a Turkish helicopter crashed into a house on the outskirts of Kabul, killing 12 Turkish soldiers and two Afghan civilians.