NATO helicopter crashes in Afghanistan: ISAF

KABUL - Agence France-Presse

A helicopter belonging to NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) flies over a base near the site of a suicide attack in Jalalabad on December 2, 2012. AFP PHOTO/ Noorullah Shirzada

A NATO helicopter crashed in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday but there were no fatalities, an ISAF spokesman said, while the Taliban claimed to have shot it down and killed all on board.

"I can confirm an International Security Assistance Force helicopter crashed in eastern Afghanistan today," the ISAF spokesman told AFP.

"The cause is under investigation but initial reporting indicates there was no enemy activity in the area at the time. The reporting we have at this time is that there were no casualties." He would not give details of the type of helicopter involved or the number of troops aboard, saying the crash was under investigation.

A Taliban spokesman told AFP in a text message that the helicopter was shot down by rocket fire in the Tagab district of Kapisa province and burst into flames.

He said all aboard were killed. The Taliban, who have waged an 11-year insurgency in Afghanistan, regularly exaggerate their battlefield activities.

Kapisa provincial governor Mehrabuddin Safi said "the incident happened in an area where a clearance operation was ongoing against the enemy".

"We are investigating what caused the crash and possible casualties," he said.