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The military has released little information about the crashes, expect to say they were not a result of hostile fire.
The deadliest crash occurred in the western part of Afghanistan. A helicopter went down after leaving the scene of a firefight, killing 10 Americans on board – including three Drug Enforcement Administration agents. The agents routinely patrol with US forces in Afghanistan, the world’s larges producer of opium, the key ingredient of heroin and a major source of funding for insurgent groups.
The helicopter was on an operation that targeted insurgents involved in drug trafficking when a firefighter began.
A military spokeswoman did not give a cause of the crash, but said hostile fire was unlikely because the troops were not receiving fire when the helicopter took off. Taliban fighters claimed they had shot down a helicopter in the Badghis province, but it was not clear if they were referring to the same incident, and their claim could not be independently verified.
It was the first time a DEA agent has died since the agency began operations in Afghanistan in 2005.
A second crash occurred when two US Marine helicopters – a UH-1 and an AH-1 Cobra -- collided in flight in the southern province of Helmand, killing four American troops and wounding two more.
Which crash VanDeGiesen was involved in was not known.
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