6 US service members among 11 dead in Afghan plane crash

WASHINGTON -- Eleven people, including six U.S. service members, were killed early Friday when a U.S. Air Force C-130J transport plane crashed in Afghanistan.

The plane crashed at Jalalabad Airfield in eastern Afghanistan at about midnight local time.

A spokesman for the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan said six U.S. service members who comprised the plane's crew died, along with five civilian passengers.

The U.S. military said the cause of the crash was under investigation. A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the incident publicly, said there was no indication of hostile fire.

There are about 1,000 coalition forces in eastern Afghanistan, including U.S. and Polish forces, as well as about 40,000 Afghan troops, according to NATO.

The U.S. has about 9,800 troops in Afghanistan, although the numbers are expected to go down a bit by the end of the year.