3 DEA agents killed in Afghan helicopter crash

WASHINGTON — Three Drug Enforcement Administration agents were killed Monday when a U.S. military helicopter went down in the west of Afghanistan, U.S. officials said.

The casualties mark the first DEA deaths in Afghanistan since the drug agency began operations there in 2005. Seven U.S. service members were also killed in the crash in the west of the country. Officials say the helicopter had left the scene of a fire fight with insurgents.

“DEA is an extremely tight family, and the death of these three brave agents is a devastating loss for us,” DEA administrator Michele Leonhart said in a statement. “No expressions of grief can adequately convey the depth of the collective sorrow that we feel for their loved ones.”

Officials did not identify the three agents, or say where they lived.

Afghanistan is the world’s largest producer of opium — the raw ingredient in heroin — and the illicit drug trade is a major source of funding for insurgent groups.

In the past year, the DEA has launched an ambitious plan to increase its personnel in Afghanistan from about a dozen to nearly 80, greatly expanding its role, particularly in military actions against drug traffickers.

Attorney General Eric Holder said the cause of the crash was under investigation. U.S. military authorities did not immediately give a cause. A Taliban spokesman claimed they shot down a helicopter in the northwest Badghis province, but it was impossible to verify the claim.