US fighter jet crashes in Afghanistan; 2 crew dead

[July 18, 2009]  KABUL (AP) -- A U.S. military F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet crashed early Saturday in central Afghanistan because of mechanical problems, killing two crew members, officials said.

Col. Greg Julian, a U.S. military spokesman, said a second fighter aircraft flying alongside saw no evidence of hostile fire. He said on his Twitter site that mechanical problems caused the crash, and Afghan authorities described the remote area where the plane went down as peaceful.

No fighter jets have crashed in Afghanistan in years. Militants are able to shoot down helicopters with rockets, but are not known to have the anti-aircraft weaponry necessary to bring down a high-flying jet.

The military said the F-15E crashed at about 3:15 a.m. but did not specify the location. Afghan officials said it happened in the Nawur district of Ghazni province in central Afghanistan.

Mohammed Qasim Naziri, the deputy district chief, said the crash site was between two villages in a desert surrounded by mountains about 20 miles (30 kilometers) south of the town of Nawur.

He said local people notified police of the crash but by the time authorities reached the site U.S. troops had surrounded the area and barred Afghan authorities from approaching the wreckage.

Also Saturday, a suicide driver blew up his explosive-laden vehicle next to an Afghan army convoy in Zabul province, killing three soldiers and wounding three others, Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammad Zahir Azimi said.

In Nangarhar province, a gun fight broke out Friday between Taliban fighters and local civilians after militants fired at an Afghan army officer who had come to visit his relatives, local official Ahmad Zia Abdulzai said.

Abdulzai said three militants and two civilians were killed and one civilian was missing. Eleven militants were captured, eight of them Pakistanis, and were handed over to police in Jalalabad on Saturday, he said.

[Associated Press; By RAHIM FAIEZ]

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