Taliban celebrates another victory shotdown C-130 killing US forces on board

[nkfnkfnkf]

This aircraft is the most robust and hardest to shoot down.

http://news.asiaone.com/news/asia/taliban-says-shot-down-crashed-us-c-130-plane-afghanistan

Taliban says shot down crashed US C-130 plane in Afghanistan

A Lockheed C 130 Hercules of the US Air Force landing at the Kabul International airport on Aug 19, 2012.

Photo: AFP

JALALABAD, Afghanistan - The Taliban Friday claimed to have shot down a C-130 military transport plane in eastern Afghanistan, with NATO confirming that 11 people including six US soldiers were killed in the crash.

NATO did not confirm the cause of the crash but it comes as Afghan forces - backed by NATO special forces and US air support - pushed into the centre of the northern city of Kunduz which was captured by the Taliban on Monday.

"Our mujahideen have shot down a four-engine US aircraft in Jalalabad," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter.

"Based on credible information 15 invading forces and a number of puppet troops were killed." The Taliban are known to make exaggerated battlefield claims, and NATO has so far not given details on the cause of the crash.

The C-130 crash, which occurred at about midnight local time on Friday (1930 GMT Thursday), left six US soldiers and five civilian contractors dead, US Army Colonel Brian Tribus said.

The contractors had been working for "Resolute Support", the NATO-led training mission.

Jalalabad is situated on a key route from the Pakistani border region - where many militants are based - to Kabul, and it has been the scene of repeated attacks in recent years.

Its airport is home to a major military base.

Although NATO gave no immediate indications that the plane crash was due to militant action, Jalalabad airport has come under attack on several previous occasions.

In December 2012, Taliban suicide bombers killed at least five people in an hours-long battle at the airport, the third attack on it that year.

Most NATO combat troops pulled out of Afghanistan last year but a small contingent remains, including roughly 10,000 American soldiers.

The US soldiers, along with other NATO troops and private contractors, are focusing on training Afghanistan's national security forces.

The C-130 Hercules is a cargo plane built by Lockheed Martin. It is powered by four turboprop engines and is used extensively by the military to ship troops and heavy gear.

It can take off and land on rough, dirt strips and is widely used by the US military in hostile areas.

The crash comes with Afghan forces battling a Taliban insurgency that has blighted the country since the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

The stunning fall of the provincial capital, even temporarily, showcased the stubborn insurgency's potential to expand beyond its rural strongholds in the south of the country.

The Taliban's recent advances in Kunduz and neighbouring Takhar and Baghlan provinces highlight that a large and strategic patch of northern Afghanistan is imperilled by a rapidly expanding insurgency.

It is also seen as a game-changer for the fractious militant movement that has been dogged by a leadership crisis since the announcement in July of founder Mullah Omar's death.

 

[nkfnkfnkf]

http://www.hindustantimes.com/world...plane-crash/story-tABCbr5YC97yjtwsGJID3O.html


Afghanistan: 11 dead in US plane crash, Taliban owns responsibility

AFP, Kabul | Updated: Oct 02, 2015 09:57 IST

This file picture taken on August 19, 2012 shows a Lockheed C 130 Hercules of the US Air Force landing at the Kabul International airport, in Kabul. Eleven people, including six US troops, were killed when a C-130 military transport plane crashed on October 2, 2015 in Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan, an official said. (AFP)

Tweet

Eleven people including six US soldiers, were killed in a C-130 military transport plane crash on Friday in eastern Afghanistan. The US soldiers were part of a NATO training and counter-terror mission supporting Afghan troops.

The Taliban has claimed the responsibility for shooting down the plane.

“Our mujahideen have shot down a four-engine US aircraft in Jalalabad,” Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter.

“Based on credible information 15 invading forces and a number of puppet troops were killed.”

The Taliban are known to make exaggerated battlefield claims, and NATO has so far not given details on the cause of the crash.

The C-130 crash, which occurred at about midnight local time on Friday (1930 GMT Thursday), left six US soldiers and five civilian contractors dead, US Army Colonel Brian Tribus said.

The contractors had been working for “Resolute Support”, the NATO-led training mission.

Jalalabad is situated on a key route from the Pakistani border region -- where many militants are based -- to Kabul, and it has been the scene of repeated attacks in recent years.

Its airport is home to a major military base.

Although NATO gave no immediate indications that the plane crash was due to militant action, Jalalabad airport has come under attack on several previous occasions.

In December 2012, Taliban suicide bombers killed at least five people in an hours-long battle at the airport, the third attack on it that year.

Most NATO combat troops pulled out of Afghanistan last year but a small contingent remains, including roughly 10,000 American soldiers.

The US soldiers, along with other NATO troops and private contractors, are focusing on training Afghanistan’s national security forces.

The C-130 Hercules is a cargo plane built by Lockheed Martin. It is powered by four turboprop engines and is used extensively by the military to ship troops and heavy gear.

It can take off and land on rough, dirt strips and is widely used by the US military in hostile areas.

The crash comes with Afghan forces battling a Taliban insurgency that has blighted the country since the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

The stunning fall of the provincial capital, even temporarily, showcased the stubborn insurgency’s potential to expand beyond its rural strongholds in the south of the country.

The Taliban’s recent advances in Kunduz and neighbouring Takhar and Baghlan provinces highlight that a large and strategic patch of northern Afghanistan is imperilled by a rapidly expanding insurgency.

It is also seen as a game-changer for the fractious militant movement that has been dogged by a leadership crisis since the announcement in July of founder Mullah Omar’s death..

 

[nkfnkfnkf]

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/10/01/asia/afghanistan-kunduz-taliban-attack/


Taliban take another area in Afghanistan, parliament member says

By Ashley Fantz, Jethro Mullen and Masoud Popalzai, CNN

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN)The Taliban have taken over the Warduj district of Badakhshan, east of Kunduz province, according to Fawzia Koofi, one of the first women to be elected to the Afghan parliament after the U.S. invasion of the country.

The Taliban takeover in Warduj province represents a new setback for the Afghan government, after the group reclaimed parts of the city of Kunduz earlier this week. That was the biggest victory the Taliban has had in 15 years. Kunduz is a strategic hub on the main highway between Kabul and Tajikistan.

Earlier Thursday, Doctors Without Borders staff working in a hospital in Kunduz were caught in the crossfire as the Taliban and Afghan security forces -- with help from U.S. troops -- battled for control of the provincial capital.

The medical staff bravely worked to treat the wounded as shells exploded and the ominous sound of rockets filled the air. Bullets broke windows and pierced the roof of the intensive care unit, Dr. Masood Nasim said.

"Our hospital was on the front line, with fighting outside the gate," he said. "But despite being in the middle of the fighting, our hospital and staff have been respected and we've been able to carry on our work."

Nasim, the medical team leader, said that since Monday -- when the Taliban said they had seized control of Kunduz -- the hospital had received at least 296 patients, including 64 children. Nearly 75 of them arrived in critical condition, and many were shot, he said.

The facility has a 92-bed capacity but the medical staff scrambled. They put patients in offices and examination rooms and stabilized many on mattresses on the ground.

"Our surgeons have been treating very severe abdominal wounds and limb and head injuries," he said. "The hospital has been completely full of patients."

While they fought to save lives, competing narratives circulated over who was winning Kunduz.

Early Thursday, the Afghan government said it had reclaimed most of the city in a big operation backed by U.S. airstrikes.

But hours later there were signs that the Taliban were back in Kunduz, a resident told CNN. Gunshots were heard near the airport, according to a resident who did not want to be named for security reasons.

The U.S. role

U.S. Special Forces advisers in the country said in a statement that Afghan Security Forces had Thursday "encountered an insurgent threat in Kunduz" to which U.S. Special Forces returned fire to "eliminate the threat."

The statement stressed that Afghan Security Forces have full responsibility for their operations in Kunduz, but U.S. service members have the right to protect themselves.

At least 150 Taliban fighters were killed in Kunduz with 50 others dying in Baghlan and Takhar, Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi tweeted. The Khawja Ghar district was also retaken by Afghan forces, according to Sediqqi.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid insisted the militants weren't done fighting in the city yet and had regained ground since the government's advance.

The Taliban remain in control of at least two districts in the rest of Kunduz province.

The Taliban's takeover of Kunduz was the first time they had driven government forces out of a provincial capital since the Islamic extremist group was ousted from power in 2001.

The defeat intensified doubts about Afghan troops' ability to take on the militants now that the U.S.-led coalition has stepped back from front-line combat. It also showed the Islamic extremist group's resilience despite recent internal divisions under its new leader.

Why is the Taliban takeover of Kunduz a big deal?
The Taliban's rise and fall
17 photos: The Taliban's rise and fall
The Taliban, a Sunni Islamist organization operating primarily in Afghanistan and Pakistan, was formed in 1994. It was led by Mullah Mohammed Omar, a veteran of the Afghan mujahedeen that fought invading Soviets from 1979-1989. Omar, seen here in an undated video image, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/29/asia/afghanistan-mullah-omar/index.html" target="_blank">died in April 2013</a>, according to a spokesperson for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
In this image taken off television by BBC Newsnight, Omar -- fourth from left -- attends a rally with Taliban troops before their victorious assault on Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, in 1996. The Taliban's aim is to impose its interpretation of Islamic law on Afghanistan and remove foreign influence from the country. Most of its members are Pashtun, the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan.
Tanks manned by Taliban fighters are decorated with flowers in front of the presidential palace in Kabul on September 27, 1996.
Taliban soldiers in Russian-made tanks fire on the forces of former Afghan defense minister Ahmad Shah Massood in October 1996.
Afghan women in Kabul are covered head to toe in traditional burqas on October 16, 1996. After taking over Kabul, the ruling Taliban imposed strict Islamic laws on the Afghan people. Television, music and non-Islamic holidays were banned. Women were not allowed to attend school or work outside the home, and they were forbidden to travel alone.
Three women hitch a ride on the back of a donkey cart as they pass by the ruins of Kabul's former commercial district in November 1996.
This is an undated image believed to show the Taliban's former leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar. In 1997, the Taliban issued an edict renaming Afghanistan the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The country was only officially recognized by three countries: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
In 1997, Omar forged a relationship with al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, pictured. Bin Laden then moved his base of operations to Kandahar, Afghanistan.
In March 2001, Taliban soldiers stand at the base of the mountain alcove where a Buddha statue once stood 170 feet high in Bamiyan, Afghanistan. The Taliban destroyed two 1,500-year-old Buddha figures in the town, saying they were idols that violated Islam.
After the 9/11 attacks, the United States conducted military strikes against al Qaeda training camps and military installations of the Taliban regime. In this long-exposure photo, a U.S. Navy fighter jet takes off from the deck of the USS Enterprise on October 7, 2001.
An Afghan anti-Taliban fighter pops up from his tank to spot a U.S. warplane bombing al Qaeda fighters in the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan on December 10, 2001. After massive U.S. bombardment as a part of Operation Enduring Freedom, the Taliban lost Afghanistan to U.S. and Northern Alliance forces.
Afghans look into Omar's bedroom as they go through his compound on the outskirts of Kandahar on December 11, 2001.
In April 2011, hundreds of prisoners escaped from a prison in Kandahar by crawling through a tunnel. The Taliban took responsibility for the escape. This picture shows a general view of the prison, top center, and the house, bottom right, from which Taliban militiamen dug the tunnel leading to the prison.
Security guards stand outside the new Taliban political office in Doha, Qatar, before its official opening in June 2013. The Taliban announced that they hoped to improve relations with other countries, head toward a peaceful solution to the Afghanistan occupation and establish an independent Islamic system in the country.
In May 2014, the United States transferred five Taliban detainees to Qatar in exchange for the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, a U.S. soldier held by the Taliban since 2009. Here, Bergdahl's father -- flanked by Bergdahl's mother and U.S. President Barack Obama -- makes a statement about the release of his son.
Zafar Hashemi, deputy spokesman for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, speaks during a news conference on July 29, when the news of Omar's death was announced.
Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour has become the new leader of the Taliban after Omar's death. Mansour has been in charge of Taliban's executive affairs for years already, according to a Taliban statement. According to the U.N. Security Council sanctions list, Mansour previously was the Taliban's minister of civil aviation and transportation, and he is considered "a prominent member of the Taliban leadership."
01 mullah omar 072902 mullah omar 0729 07 mullah omar 0729 RESTRICTED04 mullah omar 072905 mullah omar 0729 RESTRICTED06 mullah omar 0729 03 mullah omar 0729 RESTRICTED08 mullah omar 0729 RESTRICTED 09 mullah omar 0729 RESTRICTED06 taliban rise and fall03 taliban rise and fall RESTRICTED04 taliban rise and fall RESTRICTED07 taliban rise and fall01 taliban rise and fall 08 taliban rise and fall02 taliban rise and fall RESTRICTEDMullah Akhtar Mansoor

The Taliban attack Monday, in which government officials say the militants cunningly "infiltrated" the city, was preceded by a monthslong buildup of insurgent forces in the surrounding region. And yet the Afghan security forces, who outnumbered their enemy, appeared unprepared or unwilling to defend it.

After losing Kunduz on Monday, Afghan troops initially struggled to retake it. Many of them remained dug in at the airport on the outskirts of the city while the Taliban prevented reinforcements from getting through from neighboring Baghlan province.

The situation on the ground in and around Kunduz has often appeared confused, with the Taliban and the government both claiming to have gained ground and inflicted heavy casualties on the other side.

The Afghan Defense Ministry said the operation to retake the city had killed 150 Taliban fighters. But it didn't provide any information about casualties on the government side.

Hundreds of civilians wounded

Many civilians were caught up in the fighting and thousands fled Kunduz, according to the United Nations. They left by truck, rickshaw or horse -- and some on foot.
Taliban takes over Afghan city
5 photos: Taliban takes over Afghan city
Afghan special forces prepare to launch an operation to retake the city of Kunduz, Afghanistan, from Taliban insurgents on Tuesday, September 29. The Taliban took control of most of the city the day before in its biggest victory since 2001.
A Taliban fighter sits on a motorcycle holding a Taliban flag in Kunduz on September 29.
Taliban fighters hug each other on September 29.
A Taliban fighter stands guard on a vehicle in Kunduz on September 29.
Taliban prisoners walk down a street after they were released by Taliban fighters from the main jail in Kunduz on Monday, September 28.
RESTRICTED 01 kunduz 092902 kunduz 092903 kunduz 092904 kunduz 092905 kunduz 0929

Nicholas Haysom, the U.N. special representative for Afghanistan, said that under Taliban control of the city there were reports of "extrajudicial executions, including of health care workers, abductions, denial of medical care and restrictions on movement."

One male resident of Kunduz told CNN on Wednesday that shops were closed, there was a citywide power blackout and it was becoming difficult to find food.

"Kunduz has turned into a ghost city," the man said, reporting that he had been hurt by shrapnel after getting caught in a firefight. He spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing retribution.

Pictures and video posted to social media from Kunduz after the government said it had retaken control showed citizens out on the streets.

Opinion: How Afghanistan can succeed

CNN's Masoud Popalzai reported from Kabul, Bex Right and Jethro Mullen reported and wrote from Hong Kong. Ashley Fantz wrote this story in Atlanta. CNN's Greg Botelho, Ivan Watson and Elizabeth Joseph contributed to this report.