A helicopter belonging to US-led coalition troops was shot down by small-arms fire south of the Afghan capital today, but there were no serious injuries to those on board.
The pilots landed the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter safely and evacuated all personnel before it caught fire in the Kharwar district of Logar province, where Taliban militants are known to be active.
"Coalition forces cleared the area using helicopters, show-of-force and firing warning rounds before using precision-guided munitions to destroy the helicopter," the US military said.
It was the second coalition helicopter to crash in a week. The other incident in Kunar province in the northeast, is under investigation, but indications are that the helicopter crashed due to mechanical failure, a US military spokesman said.
International troops rely heavily on aircraft to transport troops and supplies around the rugged mountainous country.
The Taliban have brought down a number of aircraft, but so far the militants are not thought to have obtained surface-to-air missiles that could alter the balance of the war dramatically. The Afghan mujahideen's acquisitions of such missiles is widely regarded to have tipped the war against the Soviet occupation in their favour in the 1980s.
Elsewhere, a suicide car bomber hit a convoy of Nato forces today, wounding two Canadian soldiers, three policemen and two civilians on a road near the southern town of Spin Boldak which lies on the border with Pakistan.