OMEN
09-03-2006, 12:38 AM
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A British plane crashed in Afghanistan on Saturday, killing 14 military personnel in Britain's worst single loss in the country, British and NATO officials said.
The Royal Air Force Nimrod MR2 aircraft was supporting the NATO mission in the country when it went down, apparently due to a technical problem, in the southern province of Kandahar.
"The Ministry of Defence is extremely sorry to have to confirm that the aircraft lost in Afghanistan earlier today ... was British, and that the crash led to 14 fatalities," a ministry spokesman said in London.
He said the dead included 12 Royal Air Force personnel, a Royal Marine and an army soldier.
The RAF's Nimrod planes carry sophisticated reconnaissance and communications equipment enabling them to relay messages from troops on the ground.
"This tragedy will distress the whole country and our thoughts go out immediately to the families of those who have died," Prime Minister Tony Blair said in a statement.
"British forces are engaged in a vital and dangerous mission in Afghanistan and this terrible event starkly reminds us of the risk that they face daily," he added.
Calling the crash "dreadful and shocking", Defence Secretary Des Browne said all the indications were that it was "a terrible accident and not the result of hostile action".
The crash was Britain's worst single loss in Afghanistan and caps a month in which British forces in the country have suffered severe casualties.
Military analysts said the crash would revive the political debate in Britain about the country's role in Afghanistan and whether its forces are over-stretched given they are also working flat out in Iraq.
The last significant British military crash was in January 2005 when a C130 Hercules transport plane was brought down by hostile fire in Iraq, killing nine Britons and one Australian.
NATO said in a statement the British plane crashed after declaring a technical problem. "Enemy action has been discounted at this stage," it said.
The crash came at a time when the Taliban and other insurgent and criminal groups have stepped up attacks on Afghan and foreign forces, plunging the country into its bloodiest period since the Taliban were toppled in late 2001.
About 2,000 people, most of them militants but also including civilians, Afghan forces, aid workers and more than 90 foreign soldiers, have been killed in violence this year.
On Saturday, suspected Taliban fighters assassinated a senior Afghan police officer, his three bodyguards and a female relative, leaving only the woman's three-month-old baby alive.
Suspected Taliban also assassinated a district police chief in neighbouring Nimroz province, killing three of his bodyguards. Three attackers were also killed, police said.
Fierce Resistance
Britain has faced unexpectedly fierce resistance from Taliban fighters since sending the first large foreign force to the southern province of Helmand this year as part of an expanding NATO peacekeeping mission.
A NATO force spokesman, Major Scott Lundy, rejected Taliban claims to have shot down the British aircraft as "absolutely false". "It went off the radar and crashed," he said.
The Taliban, fighting to oust foreign forces, invariably claim to have shot down aircraft that foreign forces and the government say came down accidentally.
The last time the insurgents were known to have brought an aircraft down was last year when they hit a U.S. military helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade during a battle in the eastern province of Kunar.
The crash brings to 36 the number of British forces personnel who have died while serving in Afghanistan since November 2001. That includes soldiers killed in action and some who died in accidents or due to illness.
Seven British soldiers have been killed in fighting in Helmand since the beginning of August, when NATO formally took over southern Afghanistan from U.S. troops to allow Washington to scale back.
Britain said in July it would send 900 more troops and extra helicopters to southern Afghanistan after commanders asked for additional manpower.
It will bring the total of British personnel in the south to 4,500. A thousand more are based at NATO headquarters in Kabul.
Reuters
A British plane crashed in Afghanistan on Saturday, killing 14 military personnel in Britain's worst single loss in the country, British and NATO officials said.
The Royal Air Force Nimrod MR2 aircraft was supporting the NATO mission in the country when it went down, apparently due to a technical problem, in the southern province of Kandahar.
"The Ministry of Defence is extremely sorry to have to confirm that the aircraft lost in Afghanistan earlier today ... was British, and that the crash led to 14 fatalities," a ministry spokesman said in London.
He said the dead included 12 Royal Air Force personnel, a Royal Marine and an army soldier.
The RAF's Nimrod planes carry sophisticated reconnaissance and communications equipment enabling them to relay messages from troops on the ground.
"This tragedy will distress the whole country and our thoughts go out immediately to the families of those who have died," Prime Minister Tony Blair said in a statement.
"British forces are engaged in a vital and dangerous mission in Afghanistan and this terrible event starkly reminds us of the risk that they face daily," he added.
Calling the crash "dreadful and shocking", Defence Secretary Des Browne said all the indications were that it was "a terrible accident and not the result of hostile action".
The crash was Britain's worst single loss in Afghanistan and caps a month in which British forces in the country have suffered severe casualties.
Military analysts said the crash would revive the political debate in Britain about the country's role in Afghanistan and whether its forces are over-stretched given they are also working flat out in Iraq.
The last significant British military crash was in January 2005 when a C130 Hercules transport plane was brought down by hostile fire in Iraq, killing nine Britons and one Australian.
NATO said in a statement the British plane crashed after declaring a technical problem. "Enemy action has been discounted at this stage," it said.
The crash came at a time when the Taliban and other insurgent and criminal groups have stepped up attacks on Afghan and foreign forces, plunging the country into its bloodiest period since the Taliban were toppled in late 2001.
About 2,000 people, most of them militants but also including civilians, Afghan forces, aid workers and more than 90 foreign soldiers, have been killed in violence this year.
On Saturday, suspected Taliban fighters assassinated a senior Afghan police officer, his three bodyguards and a female relative, leaving only the woman's three-month-old baby alive.
Suspected Taliban also assassinated a district police chief in neighbouring Nimroz province, killing three of his bodyguards. Three attackers were also killed, police said.
Fierce Resistance
Britain has faced unexpectedly fierce resistance from Taliban fighters since sending the first large foreign force to the southern province of Helmand this year as part of an expanding NATO peacekeeping mission.
A NATO force spokesman, Major Scott Lundy, rejected Taliban claims to have shot down the British aircraft as "absolutely false". "It went off the radar and crashed," he said.
The Taliban, fighting to oust foreign forces, invariably claim to have shot down aircraft that foreign forces and the government say came down accidentally.
The last time the insurgents were known to have brought an aircraft down was last year when they hit a U.S. military helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade during a battle in the eastern province of Kunar.
The crash brings to 36 the number of British forces personnel who have died while serving in Afghanistan since November 2001. That includes soldiers killed in action and some who died in accidents or due to illness.
Seven British soldiers have been killed in fighting in Helmand since the beginning of August, when NATO formally took over southern Afghanistan from U.S. troops to allow Washington to scale back.
Britain said in July it would send 900 more troops and extra helicopters to southern Afghanistan after commanders asked for additional manpower.
It will bring the total of British personnel in the south to 4,500. A thousand more are based at NATO headquarters in Kabul.
Reuters