6 US Service Members Die in Afghanistan Crash

A C-130 transport plane crashed overnight at an air base in eastern Afghanistan, killing six US airmen and five passengers, the US military said Friday. A NATO official says the crash happened around midnight Thursday at Jalalabad Airport, 80 miles from the capital Kabul. The six US service members who died comprised the plane's crew. The passengers were civilian contractors working with NATO's Resolute Support Mission, the official says. The cause of the crash is under investigation. The Taliban claims it shot down the plane, but a US Air Force spokesman says that "with high confidence, it does not appear at this time that enemy fire was a factor in the aircraft," Stars and Stripes reports. (More Afghanistan stories.)