A cargo plane crashed into mountain east of Afghanistan's capital Kabul on Tuesday, an Afghan airport bureaucrat said. The plane with a nine-member team was flying from Bagram Air Field when it went down 7 miles (11 kilometers) east of the assets, Kabul Airport Director Yaqob Rasoli told The connected Press.No in order was immediately obtainable on the fate of the crew, he said. The aircraft was transport supplies for NATO armed forces in the country, Rasoli said. Bagram, which lies north of Kabul, is the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan.Weather circumstances were clear Tuesday evening and the reason of the crash wasn't right away clear. In May, a passenger plane operated by Pamir Airways, a private Afghan airline, crashed while traveling from Kunduz in northern Afghanistan to the assets. All 44 passengers on the plane died.Full story
KABUL, Afghanistan – The deputy governor of a volatile eastern Afghan province was killed by a suicide car bomber Tuesday, along with 5 others, police said.
The explosion occurred when the official was driving in Ghazni city toward his office, said Ghazni province Police Chief Zarawar Zahid. The bomber rammed into one of the vehicles in the two-car convoy, sparking a large blast.
All of those in the convoy were killed, including Deputy Gov. Khazim Allayar, his adult son, his driver, and 3 bodyguards, Zahid said. 12 people nearby were wounded, he added.
Afghan government officials are prime targets for the Taliban and other insurgent groups that have instituted an assassination campaign against people who work with either the Afghan government or NATO forces.
View Full Story
KABUL, Afghanistan – Four aid workers including a British woman were kidnapped in Afghanistan as election officials ordered recounts in 7 provinces after last week's parliamentary vote, raising further concerns of misconduct and fraud during the polls.
Meanwhile, 2 NATO troops, whose nationalities were not announced, were killed in a bomb attack in the volatile south, the alliance said Sunday.
The British aid worker and three Afghan colleagues were ambushed as they traveled in 2 vehicles in northeastern Kunar province. Police fought a gunbattle with the kidnappers near the attack site before the assailants fled, Kunar police chief Khalilullah Zaiyi said.
Steven O'Connor, communications director for Development Alternatives Inc., a global consulting company based in the Washington, D.C., area, said late Sunday its employees, including a British national, were involved.
View Full Story
KABUL, Afghanistan – All 9 troops killed in the worst helicopter crash for the coalition in Afghanistan in 4 years were Americans, the Pentagon has confirmed without providing further information on why the aircraft carrying Navy special forces went down.NATO said there were no reports of enemy fire in a rugged area in the Daychopan district of Zabul province, where the crash took place on Tuesday. But Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi told The Associated Press by telephone that insurgents shot down the helicopter.The Taliban often exaggerate their claims and sometimes take credit for accidents.The U.S. Defense Department released the identities of the troops late Wednesday, saying 4 were with the Navy special forces — 3 of them Navy SEALS — and the rest were soldiers.Fort Campbell spokesman Rick Rzepka said that the five soldiers were assigned to the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade.View Full Story
KABUL, Afghanistan – 3 U.S. service members were killed in blasts in Afghanistan, bringing the toll for July to at least 63 and making it the deadliest month for American forces in the nearly 9-year-war.
A NATO statement Friday said the 3 died in two separate blasts in southern Afghanistan the day before. The statement gave no nationalities, but U.S. officials say all 3 were Americans. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity pending notification of kin.
U.S. and NATO commanders had warned that casualties would rise as the international military force ramps up the war against the Taliban, especially in their southern strongholds in Helmand and Kandahar provinces. President Barack Obama ordered 30,000 reinforcements to Afghanistan last December in a bid to turn back a resurgent Taliban."
