

USAF says ‘it appears we lost a plane’ as Afghani journos uncover DOCUMENTS from crash site (PHOTOS)

Journalists have made it to the scene of a plane crash in Afghanistan, snapping pictures of the wreckage and even some documents. It comes as the US Air Force's chief of staff all but confirmed the loss of the military plane.

UPDATE: ‘No indication of enemy fire’: US forces in Afghanistan confirm loss of recon plane

"It appears we have lost an aircraft. We don't know the status of the crew," Gen. David Goldfein, the Air Force's chief of staff, told reporters at a Monday meeting in Washington. This is the closest to a confirmation from the US military so far, and the Pentagon earlier declined to comment.

The aircraft, believed to be a USAF Bombardier/Northrop Grumman E-11A, a surveillance and communications plane, went down in central Afghanistan on Monday. There has been some confusion as to whether Taliban militants have claimed responsibility for the crash, however, their initial statement in Pushtu only stated that the plane had gone down.

READ MORE: Taliban claims plane carrying high-ranking US officers crashes in Afghanistan


Some documents, however, managed to survive the blaze and were pictured by local media lying scattered at the crash site.

Other graphic pictures from the scene show at least one badly charred corpse, which was recovered from the wreckage.

The destroyed aircraft bears markings matching those of a US military plane, utilized by the US Air Force’s 430th Expeditionary Electronic Combat Squadron, which is stationed at Kandahar airbase. The E-11As are used as communication planes that provide reliable comms coverage for troops below – which is an especially tricky job in mountainous terrain.

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