2 die in helicopter crash in Afghanistan

Accident suspected; nationalities of servicemen not disclosed

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updated 12:48 p.m. ET June 5, 2008

KABUL, Afghanistan - Two service members died in a helicopter crash Thursday as they were returning from a maintenance mission in southern Afghanistan, the U.S.-led coalition said.

There was no report of hostile activity related to the crash, the coalition said in a statement.

The coalition did not reveal the names or nationalities of the deceased pending notification of their families. The U.S. supplies the majority of air support for the coalition.

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The helicopter crashed at around 6:30 p.m. in Kandahar province, said Lt. Col. Rumi Nielson-Green, the top spokesperson for the U.S. military in Afghanistan. The bodies of the two victims have been recovered, she said.

"There was no enemy activity in the area," she said, declining to specify the type of helicopter involved. "They were really close to the return point."

The service members were on a "routine maintenance mission," according to the statement.

Meanwhile, authorities said attacks by coalition and Afghan forces killed more than 10 Taliban militants.

Nine Taliban were killed by airstrikes after militants launched an early morning attack Thursday on an army convoy, said Faridullah Khan, the deputy provincial police chief of the southern province of Zabul.

Elsewhere, the U.S.-led coalition said in a statement that "several militants" were killed and five detained on Wednesday during an operation in Helmand province that targeted a Taliban leader.