Afghan crashes kill 14 Americans

US troops in Afghanistan

At least 14 Americans have been killed in a series of air crashes in Afghanistan, military officials say.

In the first incident, four US soldiers died and two were hurt when two helicopters collided mid-air in the south, Nato-led forces said.

In a separate incident seven soldiers and three civilians were killed in a helicopter crash in the west.

Hostile fire was ruled out as a cause of the collision but no cause has yet been identified for the crash.

Twelve Americans and 14 Afghans were injured in that incident.

This year has seen the highest death toll of international troops in Afghanistan since the Taliban were overthrown in 2001.

There have been dozens of American soldiers among those killed.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kiwis defeat England to win group

Image
England fell to a four-wicket defeat as New Zealand reached the Champions Trophy semi-finals by winning Group B. Already into the last four, England were put in on a pitch sharply varying in bounce and were 95-7 after 27 overs. Paul Collingwood hit three sixes in 40 but Grant Elliott took 4-31 as England were all out for 146 in Johannesburg. After Brendon McCullum's 48 in 39 balls the Kiwis lost five for 27 in eight overs as Stuart Broad claimed 4-39, but battled home with almost 23 overs left. It was a determined display from the unfancied Kiwis, and it meant that two of the favoured sides, Sri Lanka and hosts South Africa, both failed to survive the group stages. There were all manner of permutations when New Zealand began their reply at the Wanderers, getting to 139 but still losing being good enough to see them qualify, while winning in 44.3 overs would seal the group on net run-rate. Blazing 75-0 after 11 overs rendered much of the maths irrelevant, with Broad finding his rhyt...
Read more

Jet plot 'vindicates' UK security

Image
The "courage" of British authorities in persisting with the prosecution of the airline bomb plotters has been praised. The verdicts were a vindication of Britain's intelligence efforts, former security minister Tony McNulty said. On Monday, Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 28, Tanvir Hussain, 28, and Assad Sarwar, 29, were convicted of conspiring to activate bombs disguised as drinks. The convictions followed two trials and an operation which cost more than £35m and strained UK-US relations at times. The arrests in August 2006 caused chaos to international aviation and prompted the current restrictions on liquids. Wave of attacks Security officials on both sides of the Atlantic believe the men wanted to kill thousands in the air and possibly more on the ground in a wave of attacks causing more devastation - and political fall-out - than the 11 September attacks. It has emerged that the MI5 surveillance on the terror cell was being followed at the very top of American politics. UK intel...
Read more

Space clown' ready for blast-off

Image
Space tourist and circus entrepreneur Guy Laliberte is set to begin his journey to orbit. The Canadian billionaire will sit in the right-hand seat of the Soyuz craft which blasts off to the International Space Station (ISS). Mr Laliberte has described his flight as a "poetic social mission". He says he will make the ISS astronauts laugh during his 12-day stay, and produce a web event that highlights the issue of clean water for all. He is accompanied in the Soyuz TM-16 spacecraft by Russian cosmonaut Maksim Surayev and US astronaut Jeffrey Williams. Lift-off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan is timed for 0714 GMT. The three-man crew is expected to arrive at the ISS on Friday. Mr Laliberte was a street performer when he founded the Cirque du Soleil theatrical company in 1984. The enterprise has since become an international brand. The success has brought Mr Laliberte immense wealth, enabling him to buy the reported $35m ticket to go to the orbiting platform. The Canad...
Read more