Cargo plane crashes in Afghanistan, at least two killed

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, Apr 24 (Reuters) A cargo plane crashed into houses in a southern Afghan town today, killing at least one resident and a foreign military man on board, provincial officials said.

The plane crashed while trying to land at an airfield used by US-led troops in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital of Helmand, the administrative chief for the province, Mahaiuddin, told Reuters by telephone from the scene of the crash.

Eight Afghans were injured, four of them seriously, when the Russian-made aircraft ploughed into their mud-walled homes, but so far only one person had died, according to hospital doctors and officials.

They were uncertain how many people had been aboard the plane, but a foreign military man was killed, and there were fears that others had perished too as the cockpit was completely destroyed, officials said.

Helmand has borne the brunt of a growing insurgency by Taliban fighters, and it is also Afghanistan's main drug producing region, but several officials ruled out any chance that the aircraft had been fired on or sabotaged.

Minutes after the crash, foreign troops cordoned off the crash site as ambulances took the injured out and one helicopter was also seen ferrying casualties to a military base for US-led forces.

British Defence Secretary John Reid was due today to visit British troops stationed in Helmand, but was making a stopover in Kandahar when the cargo plane crashed in Lashkar Gah.

His travel plans were thrown into some doubt as one of the planes being used for his visit had been seconded to help with the emergency in Lashkar Gah, officials said.

An official who declined to be named said the cargo plane appeared to have been used by counter-narcotic forces employed by the US government. A US embassy official said he was investigating.

REUTERS PR KP1724