US drone goes down in Afghanistan

An unmanned US drone has crashed in southeastern Afghanistan, the latest in a number of similar coalition aircraft accidents in the war-ravaged country.

Ruhollah Samon, a Paktia provincial government spokesman in eastern Afghanistan, confirmed Wednesday that the US surveillance drone crashed in Zurmat district, a Press TV correspondent reported.

According to the report, wreckage of the drone has not been found and the Afghan police have sent investigation teams to the area to search for it.

The Afghan official further noted that neither the coalition forces nor the Taliban have yet commented on the accident.

Afghanistan’s Paktia province borders Pakistan’s North Waziristan region which is frequently targeted by US pilotless planes. Most US drones operate near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan or inside Pakistan’s tribal belt.

Several US drones have either crashed or been shot down by Taliban militants in Afghanistan since the beginning of the US-led war in the Asian country in 2001.

The militants claim that they have shot down several NATO helicopters and drones in different parts of Afghanistan over the past months.