4 February 2011 - 20:30

A US helicopter has crashed in Khaki Jabbar distruic near Kabul province in Afghanistan with no reports yet on the possible fatalities in the incident.

(AhlulBayt News Agency) - Witnesses said on Saturday that Afghan police have cordoned off the scene of the crash.

The cause of the incident and the number of casualties are still unknown, the correspondent said.

2010 was the bloodiest year of the nine-year conflict in Afghanistan, with casualties steadily soaring among both civilians and foreign troops, mainly due to a rise in Taliban attacks.

The number of US-led troops killed in 2010 in war-wrecked Afghanistan also hit new record highs with more than 710 casualties reported, far more than the 521 killed in 2009.

In September 2010, nine US soldiers were killed when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed in southern Afghanistan.

On January 6, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates ordered an extra 1,400 Marines to southern Afghanistan to fend off an anticipated spring offensive by Taliban militants returning from neighboring Pakistan.

The surge comes despite an earlier promise by US President Barack Obama to withdraw American forces from war-ravaged Afghanistan by July 2011.

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