Bodies of the crew members who were killed in a U.S. military plane crash in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province were recovered, according to Afghan officials.
“Following the removal of the bodies, our forces have moved back to their bases. We don’t know where the foreigners have taken the bodies,” Wardak told the broadcaster. Nasir Ahmad Faqiri, the head of the provincial council in Ghazni, confirmed that U.S. officials were able to retrieve at least two bodies.
“A U.S. Bombardier E-11A crashed today in Ghazni province, Afghanistan. While the cause of crash is under investigation, there are no indications the crash was caused by enemy fire. We will provide additional information as it becomes available,” he said in a statement. However, he stipulated that Taliban claims about other planes crashing were false.
Photos that were obtained by The Associated Press and Reuters show a downed plane with what appears to be U.S. Air Force markings.
“Taliban fighters on the ground counted six bodies at the site of the U.S. airplane crash,” he said.
Ariana Afghan Airlines, the country’s state-owned airline company, issued a statement and strongly denied earlier reports that one of its planes crashed. “All of Ariana Afghan flights are operating normally,” the airline said on social media.
U.S. Central Command has not responded to a request for comment on the plane crash.
More than 2,400 U.S. service members have been killed in Afghanistan. And 2019 was one of the deadliest for the United States in recent times, with 23 American troops killed, even as Washington engaged in peace talks with the Taliban.
