Afghanistan Plane Crash Kills 4 Isaf Personnel

Source : RIA Novosti

MOSCOW, April 27 (RIA Novosti) - Four members of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) were killed on Saturday when a plane went down in southern Afghanistan, NATO said.

The Associated Press reported NATO as saying there was no enemy activity in the area at the time, but coalition personnel had secured the site and the cause of the crash was being investigated

The NATO statement did not identify the nationalities of the victims, or say where the plane went down.

However, Mohammad Jan Rasoulyar, deputy governor of the southern province of Zabul, said an aircraft belonging to foreign forces crashed Saturday afternoon in Shah Joy district. He said the site had been surrounded by international forces, AP reported

Helicopter crash in Afghanistan kills five Americans

Source : Reuters

(Reuters) - Five U.S. military personnel were killed in a helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, although there were no immediate details about the cause of the crash.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan said the crash occurred on Monday. It happened on the same day that two U.S. troops and five Afghan police and soldiers were killed by a person in an Afghan military uniform in the restive east of the country.

"The cause of the crash is under investigation, however initial reporting indicates there was no enemy activity in the area at the time of the incident," ISAF said in a statement.

The Pentagon said all five killed in the crash were Americans.

New Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel left Afghanistan earlier on Monday after a difficult first trip to Kabul.

His visit was marred by a suicide bomb attack near where he was holding a meeting, and differences with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who accused the United States of colluding with the Taliban.

Helicopter crashes are not uncommon in Afghanistan and the Taliban and others often claim to have shot them down.

Last August, 11 people, including seven U.S. soldiers, were killed when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed in southern Afghanistan.

The worst such incident was in August 2011, when the Taliban shot down a CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter, killing all 38 people on board, including 25 U.S. special operations troops.

(Reporting by Paul Tait and David Alexander; Writing by Jeremy Laurence and David Brunnsstrom; editing by Christopher Wilson)

Afghan govt. says it will take full control of Bagram Prison

Source :   Tehran Times

The Afghan government will take full control of the U.S.-built Bagram Prison on March 9, the spokesman of the Afghan president announced on Sunday.

Aimal Faizi was quoted by Afghanistan’s Tamaddon TV as saying that the decision for the full transfer of the facility to Afghan forces was finalized during a meeting between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and U.S. Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, who is the commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), in Kabul last week.

At the meeting, it was agreed that control of the other prisons and detention centers currently run by ISAF will also be transferred to the Afghan government in the near future.

In November 2012, Karzai accused U.S. officials of violating a bilateral agreement to fully transfer the Bagram facility to Afghanistan.

The Afghans say that the detainees held at Bagram should be transferred to their control according to an agreement signed by the two countries in March 2012.

However, tension between the two governments has risen on the detainee transfers over the past few months. At the heart of the controversy is the issue of 57 prisoners held in Bagram who have been acquitted by Afghan courts but who have been held by U.S. forces at the prison for more than a month, in defiance of release orders. Afghan officials are also concerned about the status of new detainees being captured by U.S. troops.

Bagram Prison can hold more than 3,000 detainees. The detention center, which lies within Bagram Air Base, about 60 kilometers north of Kabul in Parwan province, is surrounded by U.S. checkpoints and is heavily staffed by U.S. guards.

MS/HG

Australian troops kill two Afghan children: officials

Source :   thenews.com.pk

KANDAHAR: Australian soldiers in southern Afghanistan shot dead two children tending cattle, local officials said on Saturday as the international coalition launched an inquiry into the incident.

Civilian casualties caused by NATO-led troops have been one of the most contentious issues in the campaign against Taliban insurgents, fuelling public anger and often triggering criticism from President Hamid Karzai.

The two children, aged seven and eight, were killed on Thursday morning as Australian soldiers fought back after a Taliban attack in southern Uruzgan province, said provincial governor Amir Mohammad Akhundzada.

"The children were killed by Australian troops, it was a mistaken incident, not a deliberate one," Akhundzada told, adding that insurgents had first shot at a helicopter carrying Australian soldiers.

A spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul said he was unable to confirm details.

"We are aware of the reports and we take all such reports very seriously," he said. "An incident assessment team in Uruzgan is now there looking into it."