A US military plane crashed in eastern Afghanistan
Twitter/Badr-ul-huda Media
The US military said a surveillance plane crashed in eastern Afghanistan on Monday.
Videos shared on social media showed the wreckage of a US Air Force Bombardier E-11A.
It was thought to be carrying half a dozen passengers.
The plane was first thought to be a commercial aircraft operated by Ariana Afghan Airlines.
A US Air Force surveillance plane crashed in eastern Afghanistan on Monday.
A US military official told Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson it was a Bombardier E-11A airborne communications plane.
—Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) January 27, 2020
It crashed in Taliban-controlled territory at 1:10 p.m. local time.
A statement from a Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said that all passengers, which he claimed included high-ranking CIA officers, were killed.
—Badr-ul-huda Media 'بدرالھدی (@Badr_ul_huda) January 27, 2020
Local media reported that there were six victims of the crash.
Tariq Ghazniwal, a local journalist, told The Associated Press he saw two bodies lying beside the aircraft.
—Ab Qadir Sediqi (@qadir_sediqi) January 27, 2020
The plane was first thought to be an Ariana Afghan Airlines commercial aircraft.
At first, Arif Noori, a spokesman for the governor of the Ghazni province, told Reuters that a Boeing plane belonging to the airline crashed in the Deh Yak district of the province.
Twitter/Badr-ul-huda
Aviation experts and sleuths combed purported footage and images of the crash on social media and found that the plane was a US military Bombardier E-11A.
The US military later confirmed their suspicions.
The E-11A is used for electronic surveillance over Afghanistan, according to the AP.
—Tariq Ghazniwal (@TGhazniwal) January 27, 2020
Ariana Afghan Airlines had denied reports of its involvement in the crash in a Facebook post.
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