Pentagon identifies four U.S. airmen killed in reconnaissance plane crash

The four NATO soldiers killed Saturday when a surveillance aircraft crashed in southern Afghanistan have been identified by the Pentagon as U.S. airmen.


Military officials say the crash of the MC-12 Liberty turboprop plane, which was outfitted with sophisticated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment, was not related to Taliban violence.


The police chief in Zabul province, Rogh Lewanai, told Reuters on Saturday that bad weather caused the plane to crash in the district of Shahjoi.







Tragedy: Captain Brandon Cyr, 28, of Woodbridge, Virginia; Captain Reid Nishizuka, 30, of Kailua, Hawaii, were both killed when their MC-12 surveillance plane went down





Mourned: Staff Sergeant Daniel Fannin, 30, of Morehead, Kentucky, was also among the dead airmen

The Pentagon said on Sunday the crash of the MC-12 was under investigation.

Zabul, wedged between Kandahar and Ghazni, has seen much violence in recent weeks, including a suicide bomb attack in early April that killed a young U.S. diplomat, several U.S. soldiers and an unnamed U.S. civilian. Dozens of Afghan civilians also have been killed there this month.

The Pentagon said all four victims were airmen: Captain Brandon Cyr, 28, of Woodbridge, Virginia; Captain Reid Nishizuka, 30, of Kailua, Hawaii; Staff Sergeant Daniel Fannin, 30, of Morehead, Kentucky; and Staff Sergeant Richard Dickson, 24, of Rancho Cordova, California.


Mohammad Jan Rasoulyar, deputy governor of Zabul, said the site had been surrounded by international forces.


The American deaths came as the Taliban announced the start of their spring offensive with attacks on both military and diplomatic targets in the northern Faryab Province.

Military insurgents are believed to have taken control of several villages in the province's Qaisar district.




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More than 60 insurgents had been killed, a spokesman for the provincial governor, Jawed Baidar, told the BBC.

He added that women and children are believed to have been among the casualties.

Online casualty tracker iCasualty.com reports that 33 Americans have been killed so far this year in Afghanistan - 14 in April. Last year, 34 Americans died in April in the conflict.


More than 2,100 American service members have lost their lives fighting in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001.




Downed aircraft: The MC-12 Liberty is a heavily-modified version of a civilian twin-engine airplane that is outfitted with advanced surveillance and intelligence equipment