A British plane crashed in Afghanistan on Saturday, killing 14 military personnel, British and Nato officials said. The Royal Air Force Nimrod MR2 aircraft was supporting the Nato mission in the country when it went down, apparently due to a technical problem, in Kandahar province.
"The defence ministry is extremely sorry to have to confirm that the aircraft lost in Afghanistan earlier today ... was British, and that the crash led to 14 fatalities," a ministry spokesman said in London.
He said the dead included 12 Royal Air Force personnel, a Royal Marine and an army soldier.
The RAF's Nimrod planes carry sophisticated reconnaissance and communications equipment enabling them to relay messages from troops on the ground.
"This tragedy will distress the whole country and our thoughts go out immediately to the families of those who have died," Prime Minister Tony Blair said in a statement.
"British forces are engaged in a vital and dangerous mission in Afghanistan and this terrible event starkly reminds us of the risk that they face daily," he added.
Calling the crash "dreadful and shocking", defence secretary Des Browne said all the indications were that it was "a terrible accident and not the result of hostile action". Nato said in a statement the British plane crashed after declaring a technical problem. "Enemy action has been discounted at this stage," it said.
On Saturday, suspected Taliban fighters assassinated a senior Afghan police officer, his three bodyguards and a female relative, leaving only the woman's three-month-old baby alive.
Suspected Taliban also assassinated a district police chief in neighbouring Nimroz province, killing three of his bodyguards. Three attackers were also killed, police said.
A Nato force spokesman, Major Scott Lundy, rejected Taliban claims to have shot down the British aircraft as "absolutely false". "It went off the radar and crashed," he said.
The crash brings to 36 the number of British forces personnel who have died while serving in Afghanistan since November 2001. That includes soldiers killed in action and some who died in accidents or due to illness.
Britain said in July it would send 900 more troops and extra helicopters to southern Afghanistan after commanders asked for additional manpower.
It will bring the total of British personnel in the south to 4,500. A thousand more are based at Nato headquarters in Kabul.
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