Fourteen Americans died this morning after two helicopters collided and a third chopper crashed in Afghanistan on the deadliest day in years for U.S. troops in the country.
Seven U.S. service members and three U.S. civilians died in the single-helicopter crash, which injured 11 U.S. service members, one U.S. civilian and 14 Afghans.
The helicopter was carrying U.S. special forces troops and Afghan soldiers away from a raid on a drug operation in Badghis province in northwestern Afghanistan which resulted in a firefight that left 12 enemy fighters dead, Defense Department officials said.
The helicopter crashed in the dark about about 4 a.m. It wasn't immediately known how far from the firefight the chopper traveled before going down.
The Taliban claimed to have shot down the helicopter. Military officials said they did not know what caused the crash, but did not believe it was brought down by enemy fire.
The dead service members were part of U.S. Special Operations forces, a U.S. defense official said.
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