17 Spanish Troops Dead In Crash

Report: NATO Helicopters May Have Collided In Afghanistan

(AP)  Spain has about 800 troops in Afghanistan assisting the NATO-led security force.

The crash was the second major deadly incident involving Spanish troops deployed to Afghanistan. In May 2003, 62 Spanish peacekeepers returning home from Afghanistan died when their Russian-built YAK-42 plane crashed near Trabzon in northwest Turkey. Thirteen Ukrainian and Belarussian crew members of the aircraft also died.

However, the victims of Tuesday's crash were the first Spanish troops to be killed inside Afghanistan, according to the Spanish Defense Ministry.

Tuesday's incident came less than two months after suspected insurgents shot down a U.S. military Chinook helicopter in eastern Kunar province — a hotbed for Taliban and al Qaeda insurgents — near the border with Pakistan. All 16 U.S. forces on board were killed.

In April, 15 U.S. service members and three American civilians were killed when their Chinook went down in a sandstorm while returning to the main U.S. base at Bagram.

NATO's force in Afghanistan includes about 10,000 troops from 36 nations. It maintains security in the capital, Kabul, and the country's north and west. It plans to increase its size by an unspecified amount and take over from the U.S.-led coalition in the violence-wracked south early next year, before gradually moving into the east.

Herat province is largely free of violence by Taliban-led rebels.

In June, suspected insurgents shot down a U.S. military Chinook helicopter in eastern Kunar province — a hotbed for Taliban and al Qaeda insurgents — near the border with Pakistan. All 16 U.S. forces on board were killed.

In April, 15 U.S. service members and three American civilians were killed when their Chinook went down in a sandstorm while returning to the main U.S. base at Bagram.