NATO helicopter downed in southeastern Afghanistan

KABUL -- A helicopter belonging to international forces in Afghanistan has gone down in the country's southeast, NATO reported Friday. Taliban and Afghan officials said militants shot it down.

A NATO spokesman said only that the helicopter went down in the southeastern province of Zabul, and that no other details were known about the incident, which was under investigation.

A Zabul government spokesman, Mohhamed Jahn Rasuliyar, said the helicopter had been shot down about 4 miles (6 kilometers) from the provincial capital of Qalat near the village of Now Haiz, but said he had no word on deaths or injuries.

Qari Yusuf Ahmedi, a spokesman for the Taliban insurgency that is active in the area, said militants had shot down the aircraft around midnight.