Two helicopter crashes killed 14 American troops and civilians in Afghanistan on Monday in one of the blackest days for the United States since its 2001 invasion, officials said. As anti-US protests erupted in Kabul over the alleged burning of a Koran, Afghan President Hamid Karzai also questioned Washington's commitment to the war-torn nation ahead of a run-off election in less than a fortnight. Following a first round riddled with fraud, Karzai's presidential rival Abdullah Abdullah called for the head of the country's election commission to be sacked. The deadlier of the two chopper crashes was in western Badghis province where seven troops and three civilians were killed. The Nato-led force in Afghanistan said enemy fire was not believed to be the cause. The Taliban said, however, it was behind the downing of the helicopter and claimed 14 Afghan civilians were killed in a subsequent aerial bombardment by the foreign force. The militia also claimed to have caused a mid-air collision in the south of the country which Nato's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said had killed four American soldiers. 'Four ISAF service members were killed and two others injured in the incident,' it said. Two helicopters apparently collided mid-air and the cause was being investigated but no hostile fire was involved, it added. The crash in Badghis occurred during a joint search operation by Afghan and Western forces of 'a suspected compound believed to harbour insurgents conducting activities related to narcotics trafficking', ISAF said.
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