A Taliban spokesman is saying that a mystery crash in eastern Afghanistan was a U.S. aircraft.
The U.S. military said Monday that it is investigating reports of an airplane crash in Taliban-controlled territory in Afghanistan. U.S. Army Maj. Beth Riordan, a spokeswoman for U.S. Central Command, said that it remained unclear whose aircraft was involved in the crash. Riordan declined to immediately comment further.
An official at the U.S. military told the Military Times that bad weather in the area was making it difficult to investigate.
However, pictures on social media purportedly from the crash site showed what could be the remains of a Bombardier E-11A aircraft, which the U.S. military uses for electronic surveillance over Afghanistan.
Tariq Ghazniwal, a journalist in the area, told the Associated Press that the crash site was about 6.2 miles from a U.S. military base.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told the Associated Press the plane was a U.S. airforce plane. He claimed the crash in the Ghazni province killed “lots” of U.S. service members. The militant group often exaggerates casualty figures.
