6 U.S. service members among 11 dead in Afghan plane crash

KABUL, Afghanistan » A C-130 transport plane crashed overnight at an air base in eastern Afghanistan killing six airmen and 5 passengers, the U.S. military said Friday.

A NATO official said the crash happened around midnight Thursday at Jalalabad air field, 80 miles from the capital Kabul.

The passengers were civilian contractors working with NATO’s Resolute Support mission, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity to brief the media on the issue.

Few other details of the crash were available. The Taliban claimed they shot the plane out of the sky, but the group is prone to exaggeration.

There are about 1,000 coalition forces in eastern Afghanistan, including U.S. and Polish forces, as well as about 40,000 Afghan troops, according to NATO.

There are also up to 35,000 civilian contractors across the country.