A Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Kandahar Province in southern Afghanistan Thursday, killing seven U.S. soldiers, three Afghan soldiers and an interpreter.

Claiming responsibility for the attack, a Taliban spokesperson said the helicopter was shot down by militants using a rocket-propelled grenade.

However, U.S. officials were undetermined of the cause of the crash in an area under the Taliban's control.

"Currently, there is no operational reporting that indicates the helicopter was brought down by enemy fire," the New York Times quoted Major Crighton, a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force Joint Command in Kabul, as saying.

However, "it is far too early in the investigation to make any definitive statement about what caused the accident," Major Crighton said.

Afghan authorities in Kandahar said it was likely that the insurgents shot the helicopter down, but added that it could have been due to technical problems.

International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) officials told the Guardian that the crash site was volatile and troops sent to recover bodies and wreckage were attacked.

Helicopter crashes have been recurrent in Afghanistan and have become of the leading causes of deaths in the war zone.

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