Officials ruled out rebel fire. But the incident highlights the dangers for troops still hunting Taliban and al-Qaida militants nearly three years after the start of America's war on terror.

"The helicopter was destroyed in the crash, but did not burn," the military said in a statement. "Hostile fire was not involved. The cause of the crash is under investigation."

The injured troops - three soldiers and nine Marines - were taken to Camp Salerno, an American base near Khost city, 90 miles south of Kabul, for treatment.

The four most seriously wounded were flown on to the main U.S. base north of Kabul, the statement said. It didn't elaborate.

The military initially said that the fatality was a Marine but later issued a correction, saying one of the Army helicopter's four-member crew had died. The other servicemen on board, both Marines, were not hurt.

More than 130 American soldiers have died since U.S. forces entered Afghanistan in 2001 as part of Operation Enduring Freedom to drive the Taliban from power and attack its al-Qaida allies.

Many of the soldiers have been killed in accidents, including several deadly helicopter crashes. In the most recent crash, five soldiers died near Bagram in November.

This year, at least 23 Americans have died in combat, making 2004 the deadliest combat year yet. Two soldiers and their Afghan translator were killed by a roadside bomb on Saturday.

Khost, a former al-Qaida stronghold in a swath of territory along the Pakistani border where the Taliban-led insurgency is strongest, has seen some of the heaviest fighting.

Spokesman Maj. Rick Peat declined to say where the helicopter came down Thursday. He said troops were still investigating the crash site and recovering the wreckage.

"We move people around Afghanistan with helicopters routinely. They were not on a combat mission," Peat said of Thursday's crash.

An Afghan official said a technical fault downed the Black Hawk in Gurbuz, a border district close to where American warplanes joined an all-day battle on Aug. 3 that killed up to 70 militants and two Afghan soldiers.

Afghan officials said the rebels in that battle came from the Pakistani tribal areas across the border and retreated there with many of their dead.

They also said they had intercepted radio traffic in Arab and Chechen during the battle, suggesting al-Qaida militants were involved.

That battle - along with Thursday's crash - have highlighted both the advantages and the risks of the 18,000-strong U.S.-led force's reliance on air power.

Marines deployed in southern Afghanistan earlier this year claimed to have killed more than 100 insurgents, often with the help of helicopter gunships and Harrier jets.

On Tuesday, a clash between U.S.-led troops and supporters of a former Taliban commander in eastern Laghman province left one gunman dead and two children wounded, a local official said.

The U.S. military had no comment on that reported incident.

American commanders insist that insurgents are on the defensive but have been unable to halt deadly attacks on Afghan and U.S. forces as well as civilians.

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