Police in Uruzgan were dispatched into the Shah Wali Kot district of Kandahar province, where police and militants battled for several hours, Hemat said.

CNN: Afghanistan violence leaves 32 dead

The Black Hawk helicopter crashed at about 10 a.m. in the Shah Wali Kot district in Kandahar, a hotbed of the insurgency, Afghan and Western officials said.

WSJ: NATO Helicopter Crash Kills 11 in Afghanistan

In a separate incident on Monday, officials say that insurgents were foiled as they tried to storm a joint Afghan-Nato base in the Shah Wali Kot district of Kandahar.

BBC: Militants kill Afghan policemen at Kandahar checkpoint