(AKI) - A senior Afghan army general and 12 soldiers were killed on Thursday when an army helicopter crashed into a mountain in the western province of Herat, military officials said. General Fazl Ahmad Sayar was one of the Afghan army's top commanders in charge of the western region, the Defence Ministry said in a statement in Kabul. "One of our helicopters crashed into a mountain due to bad weather," said Basir Khan Ghori, spokesman for the military corps in western Afghanistan. "At this stage we can confirm that the Zafar military corps commander has been killed," he told the media.Another military official said on condition of anonymity that a total of 13 people were dead.
The statement said the helicopter crashed in bad weather in the Adraskan district of Herat province. However, some media reports said that the Taliban, who lead the insurgency against the government and foreign forces, said they had shot down the helicopter. Abdul Rashid, the district chief of Adraskan, said a recovery team was on its way to the crash site to retrieve the bodies. He said the weather was clear when the craft crashed.