It is was
the eighth air crash for U.S. forces in Afghanistan since the military
campaign began October 7, 2001.
KANDAHAR, Feb. 13 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A U.S. Air Force cargo plane crashed in Afghanistan Wednesday, injuring eight members of its crew.
The U.S. military said the cargo plane, which crashed, came down in a remote part of Afghanistan in the early hours of Wednesday, February 13. All the crew survived and those injured were not critical. The cause of the crash was unknown, but the military claimed early indications ruled out hostile fire.
The crashed plane was an MC-130P, a carrier commonly used for special operations. It was the eighth air crash for U.S. forces in Afghanistan since the military campaign began on October 7. The crashes have claimed 11 American lives so far.
In early January, a U.S. military refueling plane crashed in southwest Pakistan killing all seven Marines on board. Two U.S. Marines were killed and five were injured when their helicopter crashed in Afghan mountains January 20.
In December, a Marine helicopter burst into flames after crashing in southern Afghanistan, injuring one Marine on board and one on the ground. In November, a helicopter-load of elite U.S. troops crash-landed in Afghanistan after being forced down by bad weather.
U.S. military officials also said Wednesday an American soldier had been wounded about two km (one mile) east of Kandahar airbase after reportedly stepping on a mine or unexploded ordnance. Officials said the soldier had been walking along a road when he was wounded in the blast. They claimed the incident was an accident, rather than a deliberate attempt to target U.S military personnel. A team had been sent to investigate.
The activity of U.S. forces in Afghanistan is allegedly centered on attempts to hunt down what remains of Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network and the Taliban regime that allowed it to make Afghanistan its base.
The whereabouts of both Bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar remain at large a mystery.
An Afghan official said Wednesday that some members of the ousted Taliban regime had been in contact with authorities in Kandahar to discuss a possible surrender.
The highest-ranking Taliban official to have surrendered to U.S. forces so far is former foreign minister Wakil Ahmed Mutawakil, who presented himself at the U.S. base in Kandahar last week. It is not known if his questioning has yielded any valuable information.
