A defence official says the United States has recovered the remains of two American service members killed in the crash of an Air Force plane in Afghanistan.
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They were the only two people aboard the Air Force E-11A electronic surveillance aircraft when it went down on Monday in Ghazni province, the official said, speaking Tuesday on the condition of anonymity ahead of an official announcement of the recovery.
The identities of the two have not been publicly announced, pending notification of their relatives.
Earlier on Tuesday, Afghan forces and Taliban fighters clashed in a central region where the US military plane crashed as the government tried to reach the wreckage site in a Taliban stronghold.
The US defence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said multiple attempts had been made to recover the remains but they had been hampered by the terrain and weather.
Ghazni provincial police chief, Khalid Wardak, said two bodies were airlifted by US forces from the crash site on Tuesday.
Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said Afghan forces backed by US military support had tried to capture the area around the crashed aircraft and clashed with fighters of the Islamist militant group.
The attempt was repelled, he told Reuters, but the Taliban would allow a rescue team access to recover bodies from the crash site.
Australian Associated Press
