Updated: Sat Aug. 06 2011 11:10:57 AM
A NATO helicopter that crashed in eastern Afghanistan killing dozens of U.S. soldiers and seven Afghan troops was apparently shot down by insurgents, says a senior U.S. official.
Thirty-one U.S. soldiers are said to have died in the crash, the highest number of American casualties killed during a single incident in the decade-long war. The administration official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
In a statement released by his office, Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced that the NATO chopper had crashed in the Sayd Abad district of Afghanistan's Wardak province, a restive area that borders the country's capital Kabul.
Karzai also expressed sympathy to U.S. President Barack Obama in the message, extending his "deep condolences" to the American president.
In a statement, Obama said the crash is a reminder of the "extraordinary sacrifices" made by U.S. service men and women and their families. Obama, who is spending the weekend at Camp David, the presidential retreat, also paid tribute to the Afghan troops who lost their lives in the incident.
Earlier Saturday, Taliban militants had claimed to have brought the helicopter down with a rocket attack, but NATO said the cause of the crash was not known.
NATO did say that there "was enemy activity in the area" at the time of the crash. The organization said it was conducting a recovery operation at the site, but did not provide further details.
A Taliban spokesperson said in a statement that the militant group downed the helicopter after NATO attacked a house in Sayd Abad where insurgents were gathering Friday night, killing eight fighters.
Those claims, however, have not been confirmed.
"We are in the process of accessing the facts," NATO spokesperson and U.S. Air Force Cpt. Justin Brockoff told The Associated Press.
The helicopter involved in the crash was a twin-rotor Chinook, said an official at the NATO headquarters in Brussels who shared the information with The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity. Twin-rotor Chinooks are typically used for transport, he said.
Aircraft crashes are not unusual in Afghanistan, where air travel is necessary for coalition forces transporting troops and supplies.
In June 2005, 16 American troops were killed when a U.S. helicopter crashed in eastern Kunar province after apparently being hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.
This year alone there have been at least 17 coalition and Afghan aircraft crashes in Afghanistan. Most of those incidents were due to pilot error, weather conditions or mechanical failure.
With files from The Associated Press 
US Marine tries to take cover, perched on a container, trying to shelter from the dust as a Chinook helicopter arrives to pick up supplies at Forward Operating Base Edi in the Helmand Province of southern Afghanistan, in this June 9, 2011 file photo. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus, File)
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