<p><a href="/en/afganistan/kabul" class="glossify-link">KABUL</a>’s claim of downing the Air Force E-11A.</p>
<p>The aircraft went down on Monday afternoon in the troubled district. Hours later, the Taliban claimed credit for downing the jet.</p>
<p>Zabihullah Mujahid, the group’s spokesman, tweeted: “An enemy aircraft crashed in the Sadokhel area of Deh Yak, resulting in the death of crew & high-ranking CIA personnel.”</p>
<p>Kabul-based US forces’ spokesman Co. Sonny Leggett said: “A US Bombardier E-11A crashed in Ghazni province, Afghanistan. The cause of the crash is under investigation.”</p>
<p>“There are no indications the crash was caused by enemy fire. We will provide additional information as it becomes available,” he added.</p>
<p><strong><u>Pajhwok reporter sees burnt aircraft</u></strong></p>
<p>Saifullah Maftoon, Ghani-based reporter of Pajhwok Afghan News. visited the site late on Monday and saw US special forces’ stamp on the jet.</p>
<p>Maftoon saw two bodies of crewmember and quoted locals as saying that four individuals aboard the plane managed to escape the area.</p>
<p>He said the bodies of two pilots were retrieved by residents from wreckage and the area was cordoned off by Taliban. No one was allowed to enter the area.</p>
<p>According to Maftoon, US military jets and drone flew over the site. Pajhwok also found some English-language documents from the site. “There was smell of burning flesh, suggesting death in the incident.”</p>
<p>He added the aircraft crashed in the Rozi Qala area, which has been under Taliban’s control for many years.</p>
<p>"While the cause of crash is under investigation, there are no indications the crash was caused by enemy fire," said Col. Sonny Leggett, a spokesperson for US Forces in Afghanistan,</p>
<p>In a statement, Leggett said: "We will provide additional information as it becomes available. Taliban claims that additional aircraft have crashed are false."</p>
<p>The plane was an Air Force E-11A, one of four modified executive jets that fly at high altitude and carry a sophisticated and powerful communications system called Battlefield Airborne Communications Node.</p>
<p>In Washington, the Pentagon also spurned the Taliban claim of shooting down the high-tech jet used as a military airborne communications node in the region.</p>
<p>sa/mud</p>
