US military plane crashes in Ghazni
KABUL, Jan 28, (AP): An American military aircraft crashed in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, the US military said, adding that there were no indications so far it’d been brought down by enemy fire.
The spokesman for US forces in Afghanistan,
Col Sonny
Leggett, said that the military plane, a Bombardier E11A, crashed in the Ghazni province and an investigation of its causes was ongoing.
Monday’s plane crash is not expected to derail US-Taleban peace talks if it turns out to have been an accident.
Crash
The Bombardier E-11A is a US Air Force electronic surveillance plane. Video from the crash site circulating on social media appeared to show its charred ruins.
A Taleban spokesman and Afghan journalist affiliated with the militant group had earlier said the mystery crash was a US military plane.
Tariq Ghazniwal, a journalist in the area, said that he saw the burning aircraft. In an exchange on Twitter, he told The Associated Press that he saw two bodies and the front of the aircraft was badly burned. He added that the aircraft’s body and tail were hardly damaged. His information could not be independently verified.
Ghazniwal said the crash site was about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) from a US military base. Local Taleban have been deployed to protect the crash site, he said, and several other militants were combing the nearby village for two people they suspect may have survived the crash.
The Taleban hold much of Ghazni province and have total control over the local area of the crash.
Ghazniwal said the site was near a village called Sado Khelo, in the Deh Yak district. He also said the crash occurred soon after 1 pm local time, but residents in the area did not report a loud crashing noise. He couldn’t say whether the aircraft had been shot down but “the crash was not loud.”
Images on social media purportedly of the crashed plane showed an aircraft bearing US Air Force markings similar to other E-11A surveillance aircraft photographed by aviation enthusiasts. Visible registration numbers on the plane also appeared to match those aircraft.
The so-called Battlefield Airborne Communications Node can be carried on unmanned or crewed aircraft like the E-11A. It is used by the military to extend the range of radio signals and can be used to convert the output of one device to another, such as connecting a radio to a telephone.
Also:
KABUL: Taleban militants attacked a police base in northern Afghanistan, killing 11, possibly with help from at least one of the policemen inside, local government officials said Tuesday.
The insurgents first overran a checkpoint near the base late Monday, and were apparently able to breach the compound with ease because a sympathetic policeman opened a door for them.
These details were provided by Mabobullah Ghafari, a provincial councilman in Baghlan province where the attack took place. A local police official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to brief reporters about the attack, also gave the same account.
Insider attacks have been steady throughout Afghanistan’s 18year conflict, with US and NATO troops most often targeted. But when Afghan security forces are targeted, the casualty rate is often much higher.
Last July, two US service members were killed by an Afghan soldier in the southern Kandahar province. The shooter was wounded and arrested. In September, three US military personnel were wounded when an member of the Afghan Civil Order Police fired on a military convoy, also in Kandahar.
Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taleban spokesman, claimed responsibility for Monday’s attack on the outskirts of Puli Khumri, Baghlan’s provincial capital. The Taleban have a strong presence in the province and frequently target Afghan security forces in and around the city.
Last September, the insurgents attacked Puli Khumri and blocked the city’s main highway to the capital Kabul for more than a week.
The Taleban currently control or hold sway over around half the country.