Nato aircraft crashes in Afghanistan

A US Air Force tilt-rotor aircraft crashed in southeastern Afghanistan, killing three service members and one government contractor, Nato said yesterday.
Other personnel aboard were injured and were taken to a military base for treatment, Nato said.
The CV-22 Osprey went down about 7 miles (11 kilometers) from Qalat, the capital of Zabul province, Nato said. The cause of the crash was under investigation.
The Osprey takes off and lands as a helicopter, but its engines roll forward in flight, allowing it to fly faster than a standard helicopter.
A Zabul government spokesman, Mohhamed Jahn Rasuliyar, confirmed the crash and casualty figure.
A Taliban spokesman had earlier claimed militants shot down the aircraft, part of a pattern of the insurgents making such claims to promote their cause of driving foreign forces from the country.