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US fighter jet crashes in Afghanistan; 2 crew members dead

by Amitjha | July 17, 2009 at 11:04 pm

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Bringing Normalcy in Afghanistan is costing heavily to US.In latest incident F-15E fighter jet crashed in eastern province, reports suggest that two crew member died. There is no report of militant involvment.

A US military F-15E fighter jet crashed in Afghanistan early Saturday, killing two crew members, a US military spokesman said.

US military spokesman Col Greg Julian said a second fighter aircraft traveling with the jet that went down saw no evidence of enemy fire.

No fighter jets have crashed in Afghanistan in years. Militants are able to shoot down helicopters with rockets, but are not known to have the anti-aircraft weaponry necessary to bring down a high-flying jet.

The military says the F-15E crashed in eastern Afghanistan at about 3:15 am Saturday Kabul time. The military did not immediately say where in Afghanistan the jet crashed. Many areas of eastern Afghanistan, which borders Pakistan, are filled with craggy mountains.

The crash will be investigated by a board of officers, the military said

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albertacowpoke

at 01:46 on July 18th, 2009

KABUL, Afghanistan — An American fighter jet crashed today in eastern Afghanistan, U.S. military officials said. The fate of the two-member crew was not immediately known.

The cause of the crash was being investigated, but military authorities said they have already ruled out the possibility that the F-15E was shot down.

"The crash was not due to hostile fire," U.S. forces in Afghanistan said in a statement.

The crash came amid what has already proven the deadliest month for Western troops in the course of the nearly 8-year-old Afghanistan conflict.

At least 48 coalition soldiers, including 24 Americans, have been killed so far in July, according to counts by Western news agencies and the website icasualties.org.