KABUL, Afghanistan — An Afghan military helicopter crashed in a remote region of the southern Zabul province on Thursday, killing 17 people on board — 12 soldiers and five crew members, officials said.
President Ashraf Ghani offered his condolences to the families of those killed, while the Taliban claimed they had shot down the aircraft.
In the capital Kabul, a suicide car bomb exploded in a residential area near a government complex early today, killing eight people and wounding nearly 200 others, police and hospital officials said.
Provincial police chief Mirwais Noorzai said the cause of the helicopter crash was not yet known and was under investigation. The Defense Ministry said the crash appeared to have been caused by a technical problem, without elaborating.
Afzal Aman, the Defense Ministry’s chief of operations, described it as “the worst calamity to hit the air force.”
