US pilot killed in F-16 fighter jet crash in Afghanistan

By Courtney Kube, Jim Miklaszewski and Jamieson Lesko, NBC News

A U.S. military pilot was killed when his F-16 fighter jet crashed while on a night flight over mountainous terrain in Afghanistan, officials said Thursday.

There was no indication of enemy fire in the area at the time of the Wednesday?s crash, in the east of the country.

?While the cause of the crash is under investigation, initial reporting indicates there was no insurgent activity in the area at the time of the crash,? an official with the U.S.-led international coalition, ISAF, said in a statement.

While there have been F-16 accidents and even one deadly crash recently - one crashed into the Adriatic earlier this year- such an incident is very rare in Afghanistan, where helicopters are more at risk.

Meanwhile, officials in the country?s Ghazni province said 6 people were killed, including four local police force members, by a NATO airstrike on Wednesday evening.

The Afghan Local Police (ALP) were attacked while patrolling in the village of Sulaimanzai, in the district of Deh Yak.

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Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653387/s/2a56a16e/l/0Lworldnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A40C0A40C1760A0A6570Eus0Epilot0Ekilled0Ein0Ef0E160Efighter0Ejet0Ecrash0Ein0Eafghanistan0Dlite/story01.htm

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