A M-17 military helicopter of Afghan army on Thursday crashed into mountainous area in western Afghanistan, killing 13 personnel on board including a top army general in west region, said a statement issued by Defense Ministry.

"A top army general and 12 officers were killed as a helicopter of Afghanistan National Army (ANA) crashed due to bad weather in west of the country," the statement said.

General Fazal Ahmad Sayar, who was the military in-charge of west Afghanistan, along with 12 personnel of ANA were flying from Herat to Farah province by a M-17 helicopter when it crashed at 10: 30 AM local time (0600 GMT) killing all on board, it added.

Snowfall and cloudy weather has been continuing in parts of Afghanistan over the past four days.

(Xinhua News Agency January 15, 2009)