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U.S. military plane crash kills at least 14

The American military is currently investigating a cargo plane crash that killed at least 14 people in eastern Afghanistan. The New York Times reports that the Air Force C-130J transport plane crashed shortly after midnight on Friday as it was taking off in Afghanistan’s Jalalabad Airport. The plane was carrying six U.S. military personnel and five civilian contractors, all of whom were killed. At least three Afghan civilians are also reported to have died in connection with the crash. There is no immediate indication of what caused the crash, but U.S. officials have remarked that there were no reports of enemy fire at the time of the incident, according to The Guardian. A statement issued from the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing at Bagram Airfield referred to it as an accident, amid Taliban claims that their militants shot the plane down. Reuters reports the crash came hours after Afghan troops were able to retake the northern city of Kunduz from Taliban forces, three days after losing it to the militants.