United States service members among 11 dead in Afghan plane crash

Enemy fire is not suspected as a factor in the crash of a U.S. C-130 cargo plane at the Jalalabad airport in Afghanistan, the Air Force said Friday.

The number of USA deaths in Afghanistan has fallen sharply after the United States wrapped up its formal combat mission past year, although US special forces and USA airstrikes were involved in this week’s counter-offensive in Kunduz.

The Taliban claimed to have shot the C-130 Hercules down near Jalalabad but a United States defense official strongly denied the claim, saying it was “obviously an aviation mishap”.

Security officials said that the militants had slowly infiltrated Kunduz during the recent Eid al-Adha festival, launching a Trojan Horse attack that enabled them to capture it within hours on Monday.

Defence minister Masoom Stanekzai said that clashes were still taking place as government forces continue to battle pockets of Taliban insurgents.

In a statement, he said: “As we mark this awful loss of life, we are reminded of the sacrifice fearless Americans and our Afghan partners make each and every day in the name of freedom and security”.

“We are searching the lanes of the city and residential houses looking for Taliban militants…”

Police chief Mohammad Jangalbagh said more than 300 insurgents including a few Pakistanis and Chechens had so far been killed.

The organization says its medical facility was “very badly damaged” in what it described as an “aerial attack”.

A health ministry spokesman said Friday the government has been sending surgical teams and medical supplies to Kunduz.

The fall of the provincial capital, even temporarily, had highlighted the stubborn insurgency’s potential to expand beyond its rural strongholds in the south of the country.

Local media also reported that civilians in Baghlan and Takhar were making plans to flee the area, fearing being overrun by militants.

President Ashraf Ghani announced late Thursday that Afghan security forces, after heavy fighting, recaptured most of Kunduz three days after the provincial capital fell to the Taliban.

Six USA military service members and five civilian contractors who were employed by the U.S.-led global force in Afghanistan were killed in the crash.