U.S. fighter jet crashes in Afghanistan

The military said the crash was not due to hostile fire. Col. Greg Julian, a U.S. military spokesman, said a second fighter aircraft flying alongside saw no evidence of hostile fire, and Afghan authorities described the remote area as peaceful, AP reported.

No fighter jets have crashed in Afghanistan in years. Militants are able to shoot down helicopters with rockets, but are not known to have the anti-aircraft weaponry necessary to bring down a high-flying jet.

The military says the F-15E crashed at about 3:15 a.m. Saturday Kabul time but did not specify the location. But Afghan officials said it happened in the Nawur district of Ghazni province in central Afghanistan.

Mohammed Qasim Naziri, the deputy district chief, said the crash site was between two villages in a a desert surrounded by mountains about 20 miles (30 kilometers) south of the town of Nawur.

He said local people notified police of the crash but by the time authorities reached the site U.S. troops had surrounded the scene and barred Afghan authorities from approaching the wreckage.