November 2, 2001	Friday	Shaba’an 15, 1422

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PESHAWAR, Nov 1: The Taliban on Thursday claimed to have shot down and destroyed an unidentified US aircraft west of the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

Several Taliban sources in Jalalabad said the plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire and crashed in Char Bolak district of Balkh province, near the border with Uzbekistan.

“We confirm that we have hit a US plane. We saw it going down in Char Bolak district but we’re still waiting for details,” said Sher Shah Hamdard, chief of the Taliban’s Bakhter news agency in Jalalabad.

Other Taliban sources said they had also been informed of the incident through radio contacts with officials in militia-held Mazar-i-Sharif.

They said the plane was hit during a day of air raids over Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of Balkh. Char Bolak is some 40 kilometres to the west.—AFP