By Robert Burns, Associated Press, 01/28/02

WASHINGTON -- Fourteen soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division were injured Monday in the crash of an Army helicopter in eastern Afghanistan.

There were no fatalities, officials said.

Army Col. Frank Wiercinski, speaking for the 101st in Kandahar, Afghanistan, said 24 soldiers were aboard the helicopter and 10 escaped injury. He said none of the injured was in danger of dying.

The injured were flown to a medical facility at Baghram airport north of Kabul, the Afghan capital.

Central Command, which is responsible for U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, issued a brief statement saying a CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter was extensively damaged in a hard landing near Khost. It said the cause of the accident is under investigation and that relatives of the injured were being notified.

The crash happened at about 11:30 a.m. EST, or early evening in Afghanistan, Central Command said.

A Pentagon official said the helicopter was ferrying members of the 101st Airborne to a U.S. Marine Corps encampment near Khost. The soldiers are replacing the Marines, who have been using the outpost in their search for al-Qaida and Taliban fighters.

Wiercinski said the helicopter was on a "combat mission," but he would not provide any details.

Wiercinski said the pilot apparently failed to see holes in the ground at the landing site due to darkness and dust. He said the soldiers were members of the 187th Regiment of the 101st Airborne.

It was the latest in a series of U.S. military aircraft accidents in and around Afghanistan. The most deadly was the crash of a Marine Corps KC-130 refueling aircraft in Pakistan on Jan. 9 in which seven Marines were killed. On Jan. 20, a CH-53E Super Stallion crashed south of Baghram, killing two of the seven Marines aboard.