US military aircraft crashes in eastern Afghanistan, 11 killed
Nearly a dozen people have lost their lives after a military transport aircraft operated by the US military crashed in eastern Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan.
The four-engine turboprop Lockheed C-130 Hercules plane went down at Jalalabad Airport, located approximately 150 kilometers (93 miles) east of the capital, Kabul, at about midnight local time on Friday morning (1930 GMT Thursday), AFP reported.
US Army Colonel Brian Tribus said six American soldiers serving with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) were killed in the accident. Five contractors working for the NATO-led Resolute Support mission also died.
It is not yet known what caused the accident and an investigation is under way to determine the circumstances surrounding the aviation disaster.
The so-called Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan, consisting of about 13,000 foreign soldiers, was launched on January 1, 2015 with the declared aim of training Afghan forces and counter-terrorism operations. It replaced NATO’s combat mission in Afghanistan, which ended its activities last December.
At least 16 service members of the Resolute Support, including 13 US soldiers, have lost their lives since the beginning of the current year.
On Thursday morning, Afghan troops recaptured the center of Kunduz after fierce clashes with Taliban militants. The achievement came three days after Afghan forces lost control of the city.
The significance of Kunduz lies in its strategic location on a crossroad that connects key regions of Afghanistan. It is also along the country’s border with Tajikistan and could offer the militants the opportunity to establish a base in the country’s north.
The northern Afghan province has been witnessing battles between security forces and militants since April.
Afghanistan is gripped by insecurity nearly 14 years after the United States and its allies attacked the country in 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror. Although the attack overthrew the Taliban, many areas across Afghanistan still face violence and insecurity.
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