Ten US soldiers have been killed after their helicopter crashed in Afghanistan late on Friday night, officials from the US-led coalition said.

The CH-47 Chinook came down in Kunar province near a "mountaintop landing zone" 240km (150 miles) east of Kabul.

The soldiers were reportedly involved in operations against the Taleban, although military officials said the crash was not caused by enemy fire.

The crash happened near the provincial capital, Asadabad, close to Pakistan.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4979546.stm

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A number of British servicemen have died in a helicopter crash in southern Iraq, the Ministry of Defence has said.

Police in Basra told reporters the aircraft crashed into a city centre house after being hit by a rocket.

But new Defence Secretary Des Browne said the cause of the crash remained unclear, and he offered his sympathies to the families of those who had died.

Violent clashes in which some people were injured followed the crash, and an 8pm curfew was imposed by Iraqi police.

Basra police later said five people, including two children, were killed and nineteen others were wounded after Iraqis clashed with British forces.

An Army spokesman said soldiers had fired rubber bullets after they were attacked with petrol bombs and came under small arms fire.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4979950.stm