Afghan Plane Downed by Missile, Killing 53

Afghan rebels, firing a U.S.-made Stinger missile, shot down a civilian airplane in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing at least 53 people including 16 children, Kabul radio said.

The broadcast said a Soviet-made AN-26 plane of Bakhtar Alwatana, Afghanistan’s domestic carrier, was hit by a missile over Zabul province, about 180 miles southwest of Kabul, on a domestic flight to the capital, crashing near Shah Juy. It said the dead included the crew, 16 children and 10 women, and that two passengers survived with serious injuries.

The radio, monitored in neighboring Pakistan, said the attack was carried out by “traitorous extremist elements,” the government’s term for the guerrillas.

There was no immediate claim from any guerrilla group that it shot down the plane.

Afghan guerrillas have been fighting the Marxist government since a 1978 coup, and since 1979, they have also been fighting Soviet troops sent to Afghanistan to support the Kabul regime.

Aided by U.S., Pakistan

The guerrillas have received aid from the United States, Pakistan and other countries.

The United States has declined to confirm officially that it supplies Stinger missiles to the guerrillas, but some guerrilla leaders say their forces have been getting the shoulder-fired missiles since last summer.

The Afghan Foreign Ministry said the plane was carrying “civilian passengers” but it did not say whether it had markings of the Afghan air force or the armed forces.

The Afghan government frequently uses Antonov 26 aircraft for carrying military personnel. The planes also are used in surveillance missions, Western diplomats in Islamabad said.

At least two other Afghan transport planes have been shot down near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border this year. One was downed Feb. 9, killing 43 people. Afghanistan said the dead were civilians, but guerrillas who took responsibility said the plane was carrying soldiers.

On March 30, an AN-26 was shot down by a Pakistani jet fighter and 30 people were reported killed. Pakistan said the plane intruded into Pakistan’s airspace and was shot down when it refused to land. Afghanistan said the plane was shot down over Afghan territory and 36 civilians were killed.