Taliban claim American plane ‘crashed’ in eastern Afghanistan

The Taliban claimed a US forces aircraft crashed in eastern Afghanistan Monday hours after a plane went down into an area controlled largely by the group.

The militants claim comes as confusion continued to surround the incident, with Afghan officials and airliners denying that any of their aircraft are missing while NATO have yet to officially comment on the crash.

“An aircraft of American occupiers has crashed in Ghazni province,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a Pashto-language statement, adding that all the crew members onboard had been killed.

Confusion also clouded the Taliban statement, however, with one version saying the plane crashed while another version said the insurgents brought down the craft.

Large swathes of rural areas in Ghazni province are controlled or under the influence of Taliban, making access difficult for officials.

But ministry of defense spokesman Rohullah Ahmadzai told AFP that the plane did not belong to Afghan forces or the country’s intelligence agency.

The ministry’s statement comes hours after reports on social media were rife with suggestions that the plane was from state-owned Ariana Afghan Airlines — however the company said the rumours were “not true”.

“All the flights of Ariana Afghan Airlines have been completed normally,” a statement on the carrier’s verified Facebook page read.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Afghanistan also denied reports that the plane was a commercial flight.