Rebels ambush Afghan police returning from plane crash

AFGHAN police investigating the crash of a cargo plane carrying equipment for Nato military in eastern Afghanistan were ambushed by insurgents yesterday.

They had been descending a mountain after finding no survivors among the nine-member crew. The Ilyushin-76 cargo plane burst into flames after hitting a remote mountain late on Tuesday, leaving blackened wreckage about 12,500 feet above sea level.

The plane, which belonged to an Azerbaijani company, Silk Way, had flown from the Azerbaijan capital of Baku.

Provincial Police Chief General Sher Ahmad Maladani led a company-sized convoy of 150 police officers up to the site to investigate the crash and found pieces of the plane strewn over a great distance.

The police walked for more than three hours and were ambushed by Taleban as they returned, prompting a gunfight. There were no casualties, but the police then arrested 13 suspects in a nearby village.