Five members of the U.S.-led NATO force died when a helicopter crashed due to technical failure in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, the coalition forces and a provincial official said.
"Five International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) service members died as a result of a helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan," the International Security Assistance Force said in a statement.
"ISAF is still in the process of reviewing the circumstances to determine more facts," the International Security Assistance Force said. According to Reuters, it did not provide details of their nationalities.
The crash happened to occur near Kandahar City, a spokesman for Kandahar Governor Tooryalai Wesa confirmed.
"Today at 11 am (0630 GMT) an ISAF helicopter crashed due to technical problems in Takhteh Pol district. As a result five ISAF soldiers were killed," spokesman Dawakhan Minapal said.
As the year-end deadline to leave Afghanistan has been approaching, the U.S.-led forces have started to wind down operations. The past few months have seen a strong decline of foreign forces casualties.
A bilateral security agreement that would permit about 8,000 U.S. troops to remain in the country after the formal U.S. withdrawal at the end of the year has been refused to be signed as a U.S. entreaty by President Hamid Karzai. The U.S. has been at odds with the president's decision since then, Reuters reported.
However, the leading contenders to replace Karzai have said they will sign the agreement to allow the small contingent of U.S. forces to stay in the country for counter-terrorism and Afghan training purposes.
In comparison to foreign troops, nearly twice as many foreign civilians have been killed in attacks this year since the start of 2014.
According to Reuters, at least 24 foreign civilians, including doctors and journalists, have been shot or killed in bomb attacks.
