THE HAGUE, 28/07/06 - Two Dutch servicemen have been killed in a helicopter crash in the Afghan province of Paktia. The crash was not caused by an enemy attack, the Defence Ministry assumed yesterday.

The two Dutchmen killed were an air force lieutenant-colonel and an army sergeant. The fourteen other passengers were also killed. The civilian helicopter, an MI-8 of Russian manufacture, crashed 35 kilometres north of Khost in the mountainous Paktia region, during heavy rainfall and mist.

Although rebels are active in Paktia and the Taliban claimed that it had shot down the helicopter, the Defence Ministry in The Hague is assuming that it was an accident caused by the bad weather. A rescue team from the American army has "found no indications as yet of enemy fire", General Ruud de Pruyssenaere de la Woestijne, acting Director of Operations for the ministry, explained in a statement. Five members of the Dutch Disaster Identification Team (RIT) are on their way to Afghanistan.

The helicopter was on its way to the American Provincial Reconstruction Team in Khost to see if the camp's security system could be used for the two Dutch bases in Uruzgan: Tarin Kowt and Deh Rawod. The Dutch part of the ISAF mission will take over command in the Afghan province of Uruzgan from 1 August.

Labour (PvdA) in the Lower House is pressing for an "in-depth" inquiry into the cause of the helicopter crash. This must include an explanation of why a privately-owned aircraft was used, MP Bert Koenders declared. The MI-8 was owned by a German security firm, Tryco.