RAF helicopter crash: Two air force staff among five Nato personnel killed in Kabul

The aircraft was landing at a Nato building

An RAF Puma helicopter, similar to the aircraft involved in the crash (Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

A helicopter crash in Afghanistan has killed five people, including two RAF service personnel.

The accident occurred as a UK Puma MK 2 aircraft attempted to land at the headquarters of Nato's Resolute Support mission in the capital of Kabul, according to the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

The MoD said the two British staff members who died were from the 230 and 33 Squadrons, which are based at RAF Benson, south Oxfordshire. The three others who died were also Resolute Support personnel, a spokesman for the mission said.

A further five people were injured in the crash at around 4:15pm, according to Nato.

US Army spokesman Colonel Brian Tribus earlier said that an “incident” involving a NATO aircraft and an observational balloon had taken place “in the vicinity of the Resolute Support base.”

He added that the object was severed from its mooring in the incident, but did not elaborate.

An Afghan security guard said the helicopter appeared to collide with the balloon as it attempted to land.

The MoD did not disclose the gender of the victims or their age, but confirmed that they were British and that the crash was an accident.

An MoD spokeswoman said an investigation has been launched into incident, and that the family of those killed have been informed.

It will now observe a grace period before releasing their names, she said.

The crash comes after a convoy of British military vehicles were targeted with an improvised explosive device in a separate incident in Kabul, at around 9am. Three civilians, understood to include a woman and a child, were injured, the MoD said.

However, the Taliban, who claimed responsibility for the attack, and Kabul's police chief said a suicide bomber was behind it.

The fatalities have taken the death toll of British service personnel or MoD civilians killed while serving in Afghanistan since the start of operations in October 2001 to 456.

Established following the stand-down of the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) last year, Resolute Support trains and assists Afghan security forces and institution

Additional reporting by PA