US Plane Downed in Afghanistan – Taliban Claims Responsibility

The Afghan Taliban claimed culpability for bringing down a US military aircraft that crashed in the Ghazni area.

“A special aircraft of the American occupant was flying in the area, for the purpose of an intelligence mission in the Sado Khail region of Deh Yak district of Ghazni province,” states Afghan Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid. “Our mujahideen took down [the aircraft] tactically.”

The announcement was supplemented by videotape and images of the army aircraft and of the severed bodies. The initials “USAF,” which is the identifier of the US Air Force, can be unmistakably perceived on the wreck, stated Arab News.

Everyone onboard, including the crew and senior CIA officials, were killed and the debris and bodies remain at the crash site. The Taliban spokesman did not reveal what kind of armaments the terrorist group used to shoot down the plane.

Before the Taliban confession, Ghazni Governor Waheedullah Kalemzai had said the aircraft crashed outside the administration's area of control.

Kalemzai’s spokesman, Aref Noori, claimed that the “aircraft belonged to a foreign company and all of the passengers on board were non-Afghans.” He added at the time that “The plane caught fire. Except for the two pilots, the rest of the bodies cannot be identified, nor can the type of plane be specified.”

By Beka Alexishvili