U.S. Pilot Killed in Jet Crash in Afghanistan

A U.S. military pilot was killed in a fighter jet crash during a night flight in eastern Afghanistan, officials said on Thursday.

The plane, an F-16, had been flying over mountainous terrain and, according to coalition officials, there was no enemy activity in the area when the crash happened late on Wednesday.

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The body of the pilot, who was flying alone, has been recovered and the cause of the crash is now under investigation.

Few details have so far been released and officials have so far not divulged the province in which the accident occurred.

Military plane crashes are rare in Afghanistan. A French fighter jet crashed in Western Afghanistan in 2011, but both crew members ejected and were rescued.

A F-16 was involved in a fatal crash earlier this year in the Adriatic, but in Afghanistan insurgents have been more successful in bringing down helicopters.

Elsewhere in the region, officials in the Ghazni province said six people were killed, including four local police force members, by a NATO airstrike on Wednesday evening.

The attack came as the Afghan Local Police (ALP) were patrolling in the village of Sulaimanzai.

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