2 US soldiers killed in helicopter crash during combat in Afghanistan

Kabul [Afghanistan]: Two US service members lost their lives in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan, NATO Resolute Support Mission said.

Officials are still trying to establish the cause of the crash. However, preliminary reports do not indicate it was caused by enemy fire, it said. "In accordance with the US Department of Defence policy, the names of the service members killed in action are being withheld until 24 hours after notification of next of kin is complete," the mission stated.

Meanwhile, the Taliban in its statement claimed that they shot down a US chinook chopper in Chark district of Logar province, saying that a "number of soldiers have been killed," TOLOnews reported.

Resolute Support is a NATO-led, non-combat mission to train, advise and assist the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces (ANDSF). It was launched on January 1, 2015.

The Resolute Support Mission works closely with different elements of the Afghan Army, Police and Air Force.

The 19 service members killed so far this year by hostile forces, surpasses the total of 13 who died in 2018. About 2,400 have died in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001. In August, two Army Special Forces soldiers died of wounds suffered in small-arms fire in Faryab province. Another serviceman died in a suicide bombing in Kabul in September that prompted President Trump to break off talks with the Taliban.

• US soldiers
• Afghanistan
• chopper crash