Official: Military aircraft crashes in Afghanistan

October 23, 2009 A senior Afghan intelligence official has reported that a military aircraft crashed in the country's northern region on Thursday.

Provincial intelligence chief Abdul Majid Azimi said that the aircraft went down in the mountains of Afghanistan's Baghlan province. He added it was not immediately known if the aircraft involved is a helicopter or a plane or to whom it belonged. Mohammad Asif Qazizada, the district governor of the Khinjan district, told the Agence France-Presse news agency: "a military aircraft has crashed in the Basgah area on the peak of the Salang mountains, between northern and southern Salang. It is not known at this stage to whom the aircraft belongs, exactly what type of aircraft it is, if there were any passengers and who they were."

A spokesman for NATO's international coalition in Afghanistan said there were no immediate reports of a crash involving any of its aircraft.

"We are investigating reports of a military aircraft crash in Salang. We cannot confirm anything at this stage. We are investigating," said General Murad Ali Murad, an army corps commander.