At least 20 people were killed on Wednesday when a military helicopter crashed in Afghanistan's Farah province. The dead included the region's deputy commander and local politicians.
But Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yusuf said the insurgent group downed the helicopter in a "direct attack".
Among the dead were Farid Bakhtiar, the head of the provincial council of Farah and the deputy commander of the Army in the western region, according to Shah Mahmoud Nayemi of Farah's provincial council, the report said.
He said the helicopter hit a mountain side.
The head of the Election Commission for the province was also killed, media reports said.
Army spokesman Najibullah Najibi said there were more than 20 people were in the helicopter at the time of the crash and he believed there were no survivors.
--IANS
soni/mr
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)