46 Afghan aircraft forced to land by Uzbek Air Force

NEW DELHI: The Uzbek Air Force forced to land 46 Afghan aircraft over the past two days, the press service of the Uzbek prosecutor generals office said.

"The planes were forced to land at the Termez international airport. The planes were carrying as many as 585 armed servicemen who were trying to illegally cross Uzbekistan's airspace," said Khayet Shamsutdinov, a spokesman for the prosecutor general's office, TASS News Agency reported.

According to the spokesman, in an attempt to compel airspace violators to land, a MiG-29 fighter jet of the Uzbek Air Force collided with an Embrayer-314 aircraft flying from Afghanistan. The planes crashed but their pilots safely ejected themselves from their aircraft.

Apart from that, 158 Afghan nationals have been detained by Uzbek border guards over two days in Termez district. The Taliban claims the war is over but experts think that refugee flows from Afghanistan would continue for a long time.

More than 40 passenger flights were made on Sunday evening from the Afghan capital city of Kabul to neighbouring Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, TOLO News reported on Monday. (IANS)

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