A U.S. military helicopter crashed during an anti-guerrilla mission in eastern Afghanistan after being hit by ground fire and the fate of 17 U.S. troops aboard was not known, the U.S. military said on Wednesday.
The twin-rotor Chinook crashed in remote and mountainous Kunar province on Tuesday afternoon while bringing troops to reinforce soldiers on the ground carrying out an anti-al Qaeda operation, it said.
The aircraft received direct and indirect fire as it was approaching its landing zone and crashed about 1-2 km (half to one mile) away, said U.S. military spokesman Colonel Jim Yonts.
"Whether or not that caused it to crash, we do not know yet," he told a regular news briefing.