11 dead in US C-130 plane crash in Afghanistan: Official

File photo shows an American C-130 military transport plane. (AFP/Toshifumi Kitamura)

WASHINGTON: Eleven people, including six US troops, were killed when a C-130 military transport plane crashed Friday (Oct 2) in Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan, an official said.

"The crew and passengers were killed," US Army Colonel Brian Tribus said, noting that five civilian contractors were also on the plane. The crash occurred at about midnight local time on Friday morning. The contractors had been working for "Resolute Support," the NATO-led training mission.

The C-130 Hercules is a cargo plane built by Lockheed Martin. It is powered by four turboprop engines and is used extensively by the military to ship troops and heavy gear. The C-130 can take off and land on rough, dirt strips and is widely used by the US military in hostile areas.

Jalalabad is in eastern Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan. The Pentagon said it was "gathering further information."

It was not immediately clear what caused the crash, it comes as Afghan forces - backed by NATO special forces and US air support - pushed into the centre of Kunduz in northern Afghanistan to flush out Taliban insurgents who held the provincial capital for three days.

Although there were no immediate indications that the plane crash was due to militant action, Jalalabad airport has come under attack on several previous occasions. In December 2012, Taliban suicide bombers killed at least five people in an hours-long battle at the airport, the third attack on it that year.

Most NATO combat troops pulled out of Afghanistan last year but a small contingent remains, including roughly 10,000 American soldiers. The US soldiers, along with other NATO troops and private contractors, are focusing on training Afghanistan's national security forces.

The crash comes with Afghan forces battling a Taliban insurgency that has blighted the country since the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan. The stunning fall of the provincial capital, even temporarily, showcased the stubborn insurgency's potential to expand beyond its rural strongholds in the south of the country.

The Taliban's recent advances in Kunduz and neighbouring Takhar and Baghlan provinces highlight that a large and strategic patch of northern Afghanistan is imperilled by a rapidly expanding insurgency. It is also seen as a game-changer for the fractious militant movement that has been dogged by a leadership crisis since the announcement in July of founder Mullah Omar's death.