AFGHANISTAN: A US military helicopter crashed during a dust storm in Afghanistan yesterday, killing at least 16 people aboard - the deadliest military air accident since Washington first deployed troops to the country in 2001.
A US spokeswoman said the CH 47 Chinook helicopter came down in Ghazni province, 120km (80 miles) southwest of the capital Kabul while on a routine mission.
"Eighteen people, including crew members and passengers, were listed on the flight manifest; two remain unaccounted for," the US military said in a statement.
"Recovery operations have ended for the night due to darkness and weather conditions," it added.
President George Bush, on his way to Rome for the Pope's funeral, had been informed of the accident, his aides said.
Spokeswoman Lieut Cindy Moore said the military was seeking confirmation whether the two people unaccounted for actually boarded the helicopter.
Nor was there any confirmation of the nationalities aboard the aircraft or which services they belonged to.
Names of the dead were being withheld pending notification of next of kin, the military said.
The helicopter was one of two returning to Bagram, the main US military base in Afghanistan, from a mission in the south, Lieut Moore said. The other helicopter arrived safely.
The governor of Ghazni province Assadullah Khalid said the helicopter crashed during a heavy dust storm.
"We were first to arrive at the scene," Mr Khalid said.
"We recovered two American soldiers' bodies and now American forces are in control of the situation. The chopper was burning when we were there."
Provincial police chief Abdul Rahman Sarjang said the helicopter crashed in desert 6km (four miles) south of Ghazni town. Some of the dead were in military uniform and some were burned beyond recognition, he said.
Television news showed pictures of bodies being removed from burning wreckage.
The US has lost more than 100 military personnel since deploying troops to Afghanistan following the fall of the Taliban in late 2001, but most of the deaths have been in accidents.
US forces have lost several helicopters and other aircraft in crashes in Afghanistan but yesterday's crash was the deadliest involving a military aircraft in Afghanistan since the deployment.
Three US military personnel and three civilian crew were killed in late November 2004 when their CASA 212 civilian fixed-wing transport aircraft crashed in central Afghan mountains.