U.S. fighter jet crashes in Afghanistan, 2 dead

18 Jul 2009 06:49:01 GMT
Source: Reuters
(For full coverage on Afghanistan, double click on [ID:nAFPAK]) (Adds source confirming crew killed)

KABUL, July 18 (Reuters) - A U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet crashed in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, the U.S. Air Force said, and a military source said both crew members on board were killed.

The Air Force said in a statement that the crash, which took place at 3:15 a.m. local time (2245 GMT on Friday), was not due to hostile action.

"There is an active investigation going on at the site at this time," Air Force spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Reid Christopherson said by telephone from Qatar, the main base of U.S. air operations in the Middle East and Central Asia.

Christopherson declined to discuss the status of the crew members, but a military source in Kabul confirmed they had been killed. The source asked not to be identified pending the Air Force's official announcement of the deaths.

The Strike Eagle is a variant of the F-15 supersonic jet designed to strike ground targets and provide close air support for infantry.

It has been deployed widely in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

(Editing by Paul Tait)

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Helicopter crashes in Afghanistan, 16 killed
19 Jul 2009 11:11:45 GMT
Source: Reuters
(For full coverage on Afghanistan, double click on [ID:nAFPAK]) (Recasts with confirmation of casualties)

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, July 19 (Reuters) - A civilian helicopter under contract for NATO forces in Afghanistan crashed at a military base in the south of the country on Sunday, killing 16 people and wounding five others, the alliance said.

Captain Ruben Hoornveld, a Dutch NATO spokesman at Kandahar Air Field, said there was no enemy involvement in the crash, which took place as the helicopter was taking off from the base, NATO's headquarters in the south of the country.

Russia's Interfax news agency described the helicopter as an Mi-8 transporter, operated by a Russian firm, which had 17 passengers and three crew on board at the time of the crash. It gave the death toll as 15.

The crash was the second by a former-Soviet civilian helicopter in southern Afghanistan in less than a week. Six Ukrainian crew members died aboard a Soviet-built Mi-26 transport helicopter which crashed in Helmand province on Tuesday.

Moldovan authorities said Tuesday's helicopter was shot down while ferrying supplies to a remote British base.

NATO troops in Afghanistan rely heavily on air craft from the former Soviet Union for cargo and transport flights in a country where travel by road is often difficult. The NATO force in Afghanistan has been expanding rapidly this year with the deployment of tens of thousands of additional U.S. troops.

(Writing by Peter Graff; Reporting by Ismail Sameem in KANDAHAR and Amie Ferris-Rotman in MOSCOW; Editing by Paul Tait)