Thursday, Aug. 18, 2012

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- A Taliban spokesman says fighters for the group shot down a NATO helicopter in the country's south. The international coalition says 11 people were killed in the crash, including seven international service members, but did not identify the cause.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi says the helicopter was shot down in Kandahar province Thursday morning.

The coalition says it is investigating the crash but did not comment on the Taliban claims.

An alliance statement says at least three of those killed were American service members. The nationalities of the other four were not immediately identified.

A spokesman for the coalition, Jamie Graybeal, said the aircraft that crashed was a Black Hawk helicopter.

NATO says four Afghans were also killed -- three members of the security forces and one civilian interpreter.

(Copyright 2012, The Associated Press)