16 killed in US copter crash in Afghanistan

A US spokeswoman said the CH47 Chinook helicopter came down in Ghazni province, 120km (80 miles) southwest of the capital, Kabul, while on a routine mission.

"Eighteen people, including crew members and passengers, were listed on the flight manifest; two remain unaccounted for," the US military said in a statement.

"Recovery operations have ended for the night due to darkness and weather conditions," it added.

President Bush, on his way to Rome for the Pope's funeral, had been informed of the accident, his aides said.

Spokeswoman Lt Cindy Moore said the military was seeking confirmation whether the two people unaccounted for actually boarded the helicopter.

Nor was there any confirmation on the nationalities aboard the aircraft, or which services they belonged to.

Names of the dead were being withheld pending notification of next of kin, the military said.

The helicopter was one of two Chinooks returning to Bagram Air Field north of Kabul, the main US military base in Afghanistan, from a mission in the south, Moore said. The other arrived safely.

The governor of Ghazni province, Assadullah Khalid, said the helicopter crashed during a heavy dust storm.

"We were first to arrive at the scene," Khalid told the news agency.

"We recovered two American soldiers' bodies and now American forces are in control of the situation. The chopper was burning when we were there."