An Afghan official says at least five army personnel, all crew members of a military helicopter, were killed when their aircraft made an emergency landing and caught fire in the western Farah Province.

Mohammad Noorzai, a Khaki Safad district chief, told RFE's Radio Free Afghanistan that the incident late on September 14 was the result of a technical malfunction.

However, the Taliban claimed it shot the helicopter down.

The Taliban are in control of most areas in Farah Province, especially Khaki Safad district.

In the northern Parwan Province, a roadside bomb detonated September 15 near a military vehicle, killing four intelligence service members and a civilian, according to Wahida Shahkar, spokeswoman for the provincial governor.

Shahkar said one military personnel and a civilian were wounded in the blast on the outskirts of Charakar, the provincial capital.

'There was a report of a bomb in a village and when the military personnel rushed to defuse it another roadside bomb detonated near their vehicle causing casualties,' she said.

News of the helicopter crash and the roadside bombing come a day after at least 38 Afghan security personnel and civilians were killed in overnight attacks across four Afghan provinces, amid a spike in Taliban strikes on military checkpoints.

With reporting by AP and dpa RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan

RFE/RL's Radio Azadi is the leading media outlet in Afghanistan today, reaching more than 60 percent of the Afghan population across the country with its radio and Internet programs.

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