KABUL - Seven German servicemen were killed yesterday and two Afghan girls were missing after a helicopter crashed into a house in the Afghan capital, Germany's Defence Minister said.
There was some confusion about the fate of the two girls, as earlier a military spokesman at the crash scene in Kabul said no children were involved.
Meanwhile, a United States soldier was killed in a firefight with enemy forces in eastern Afghanistan. The soldier's unit came under fire while on patrol in the eastern province of Paktika, the US military said.
The cause of the helicopter crash was not immediately known, but officials from the 22-nation International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said they believed it might have been caused by engine trouble rather than a missile attack or other foul play.
German Defence Minister Peter Struck said that all seven crew members died when the helicopter hit an empty house, and a team of German Army specialists would investigate.
He said there were "no indications whatsoever of shots fired". Struck said two girls were missing. Witnesses claimed to have seen the bodies of two children at the site.
ISAF spokesman Major Gordon Mackenzie, speaking from near the crash site, said this was incorrect. "There were no children. We would have known by now."
"The helicopter was completely destroyed," said German Lieutenant-Colonel Andreas Steffan in Kabul. "We are waiting for our explosives ordnance people to check it over before they can lift it up, and then maybe we will find other people."
The aircraft had been on a routine patrol. German troops cordoned off the road leading to the site.
- REUTERS
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