US army investigating plane crash in Taliban-held area

Kabul, Jan 27 (AP) A Taliban spokesman and Afghan journalist affiliated with the militant group say that a US military aircraft crashed in eastern Afghanistan on Monday. 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 aircraft's body and tail was hardly damaged. His information could not be independently verified. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said a US airforce plane crashed in the Ghazni province. He claimed the crash killed "lots" of US service members.

Ghazniwal said the crash site was about 10 kilometers from a US military base. US Army Maj. Beth Riordan, a spokeswoman for US Central Command, declined to comment when told about the Taliban claim.

She earlier acknowledged American military officials were investigating reports of a crash. However, pictures on social media purportedly from the crash site showed what could be the remains of a Bombardier E-11A aircraft, which the US military uses for electronic surveillance over Afghanistan.

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. (AP) ZH

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