No survivors in Afghan plane crash

A civilian cargo plane has crashed near a US-run airbase north of the capital, Kabul, killing all seven on board.

Monday’s crash occurred shortly after takeoff at the Bagram air base, a key transport hub for US-led military operations in Afghanistan.

“All seven of the crew on board died in the accident,” a spokesman for the NATO military coalition told the AFP news agency.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the crash, but the coalition said in a statement to the Associated Press news agency: “Taliban’s claims are false.”

Captain Luca Carniel, a coalition spokesman, said the aircraft crashed from a low altitude right after takeoff.

The coalition did not identify the victims, the type of aircraft involved, or the company that owned it.

Monday’s crash comes days after a NATO plane crashed in the south on Saturday, killing four US service members, in another incident that the coalition said was not due to fire from the armed opposition.

Civilian deaths

Elsewhere, the office of Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, issued a statement that US forces killed four civilians and wounded another in the eastern province of Nangarhar on Sunday.

The presidential palace “strongly condemned the killing of innocent civilians”.

The military coalition said it was still investigating the weekend clash, which left four soldiers with minor injuries and damaged a patrol vehicle.

In a statement issued on Monday, the coalition said the Taliban attacked the coalition patrol with small arms fire and roadside bombs as it moved through a local bazaar in the province where there were civilians.

“Coalition forces engaged the enemy, pushed through the hostile area, and traveled to a nearby Afghan National Army checkpoint,” the coalition said in a statement.

“An investigation is currently under way to assess whether there are any civilian casualties as a result of insurgent fire.”