Casualties in the Global War

This AP story from Afghanistan has elements of an urban legend - which doesn't mean it isn't true. A plane landing at Lashkar Gah airfield in southern Afghanistan was forced to abort to avoid a truck that had wandered onto the runway. A Canadian military source quoted in the story says "The pilot pulled up to avoid hitting the truck but was unable to gain sufficient speed to remain airborne."

The Russian-made, twin-engine An-32 aircraft plowed into a nomad settlement of tents and mud brick houses, killing two Ukrainian crew members and three people on the ground.

A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said the two dead on the plane were Ukrainian flight crew members. The U.S. Embassy said several of the 11 Americans aboard were injured. The nationality of the other passenger was unclear.
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The plane was leased by the U.S. State Department and carried a team from the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Innis said.

The bureau has been helping Afghan authorities conduct opium eradication campaigns across southern Afghanistan.

Two Afghan nomad girls, aged 2 and 3, were crushed to death in their mud brick homes as they slept, their mothers said
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''We were sitting eating our lunch when I heard a loud noise, and then turned to see a big plane sliding along the ground from the airstrip before it smashed into our homes,'' said Lal Bibi, 40, whose 2-year-old daughter, Palwasha, was killed.

The casualty count could have been higher if the settlement's men had not left earlier to work at a farm picking opium poppies, Bibi said.