C-130 Crashes in Afghanistan; 6 U.S. Service Members Dead

MORE BAD NEWS FROM AFGHANISTAN …

As reported at NBC News, a C-130 transport plane crashed while taking off in Afghanistan killing 13 people abord the plane, including 6 American service men. The terrible incident took place shortly after midnight local time (3:19 p.m. ET) at Jalalabad airfield. The Taliban has claimed that they shot the plane out of the sky; however, U.S. Air Force Maj. Tony Wickman, spokesman for the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing dismissed the claim, saying that “it is with high confidence that we can say it does not appear that enemy fire was involved.” Well, it didn’t just crash on its own … what happened?

Six American service members were among 13 people killed early Friday when a U.S. C-130 transport plane crashed while taking off in Afghanistan, a U.S. military official said.

The incident occurred shortly after midnight local time (3:19 p.m. ET) at Jalalabad airfield, coalition spokesman U.S. Army Col. Brian Tribus said.

Six of the dead were U.S. service members that were the crew of the aircraft. The other victims were five civilian contractors, who were passengers, and two Afghan civilians who were killed on the ground, Tribus said.

U.S. Air Force Maj. Tony Wickman, spokesman for the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing, told The Associated Press the the Super Hercules aircraft crashed “shortly after take-off wholly within the airfield.”

The civilian contractors were working with “Resolute Support,” the NATO-led mission to train and advise Afghan security forces. It follows the military mission in Afghanistan after combat operations ended at the end of 2014.

A cause for the crash has not been determined.