Eleven people have been killed, including seven US troops, in a helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan, officials said Thursday.
The UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter went down in Shah Wali Kot district of Kandahar province in the morning, according to officials.
"Seven United States soldiers, three Afghan troops and an Afghan interpreter died in the crash," Martyn Crighton, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF), told dpa.
The office of Kandahar's also confirmed in a statement that an ISAF helicopter had crashed in the Shah Wali Kot district.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with those American and Afghan families who lost loved ones in that incident," White House spokesman Jay Carney said, noting the cause of the crash remained under investigation.
He stressed that the US policy toward Afghanistan remains unchanged even amid rising violence. Taliban militants claimed responsibility for shooting it down.