Kabul: A military helicopter crashed during an early morning operation in southern Afghanistan on Monday, killing three Australian commandos and an American service member, officials said.
Two other international troops were killed on Sunday in separate bombings in the south, Nato announced without specifying nationalities. One of them was an American, according to a US spokesman Colonel Wayne Shanks.
The Taliban claimed they had shot down the helicopter, but Nato said there were no indications of enemy involvement.
The Australian government said three of the dead were Australians, and US Lieutenant Colonel Joseph T. Breasseale said the fourth service member killed was American.
Australian Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston said seven other Australian soldiers were wounded, two of them badly.
Tragic day
"This is a tragic day for Australia and for the Australian defence force," Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said in a statement. "We know our mission in Afghanistan is hard, but this mission is critical for our common security."
There were 15 people aboard the helicopter, 10 of them Australians, according to Australian Defence Minister John Faulkner.
Australia has some 1,500 troops in Afghanistan, most of them in Uruzgan province. Yesterday's deaths take Australia's military death toll in Afghanistan to 16.
The crash comes in a particularly deadly month for Nato forces. With the most recent deaths, at least 59 international troops, including 36 Americans, have died so far in June. That puts June among the deadliest months for international forces in the nearly nine-year war. The deadliest month so far for the military alliance was July 2009 when 75 troops, including 44 Americans, were killed.
The rising death toll underscores the precarious situation for Afghanistan's international allies.
