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Sputnik News is reporting that an American B-52 Bomber was shot down by Taliban militants shortly after taking off from "Shawrab Airbase" in Afghanistan in the early morning hours of April 10th, 2019.

Taliban* militants have claimed they shot down a US B-52 heavy bomber, Syrian news site Muraselon reports.

The incident purportedly took place when the aircraft was departing from the Shawrab Airbase in southern Afghanistan in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The B-52 is said to have crashed after the strike, killing all of its crew. Both Afghan and US authorities are yet to comment on the matter.

This is backed up by reports from Mehr News Agency

According to the report, a B-52 US bomber has crashed in Washir district in the west of Helmand Province.

Taliban has claimed responsibility saying it has targeted the plane and also saying that all US crews on board have been killed.

and Muraselon

The Taliban claimed it shot down US B-52 Stratofortress strategic bomber while it was taking off from Shawrab airbase in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan.

“Mujaheddin of the Islamic Emirate targeted US B-52 bomber with heavy weapons today early morning in Lar area in Washir district of Helmand province, the bomber went down and all its crew were killed while smoke still rising from the crash site”, Taliban’s spokesman Qarri Muhammad Yousef Ahmad said.

However, no US sources are reporting this at this time. A google search for "b 52 crash afghanistan" only returned the three news sources and no other relevant links. Furthermore, there are no photos of the crash site, and the only photo on any of the three websites is from a separate B-52 crash from 2017.

Is there any independent confirmation or proof either for or against this?

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DenisS
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  • My bad @Oddthinking, forgot about the unresolved current events thing. I'll leave it on hold until further notice. – DenisS Apr 10 '19 at 22:27
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    Also, the more I research, the more I call bunk on this. No actual photos of the crash site, and AFAIK all B-52 wings are in the US at this time and no USAF wings are currently in Afghanistan – DenisS Apr 10 '19 at 22:32
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    That is a dilemma with this close reason. It will take time to confirm it is true, but it might not take time to confirm it is false. – Oddthinking Apr 10 '19 at 23:25
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    @DenisS: The B-52 has remarkably long range, and midair refueling is a thing, so it would be entirely possible for a B-52 based in the US to fly a mission over Afghanistan. I don't think the location of the wings rules out this claim, by itself. – Nate Eldredge Apr 11 '19 at 00:27
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    @NateEldredge agreed, but the news sources specifically claim that it was shot down after taking off from an airbase in Afghanistan. Sputnik and Muraselon both claim that in the articles posted. – DenisS Apr 11 '19 at 13:16
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    @NateEldredge I've updated the question with quotes from Sputnik that says the bomber was shot down shortly after takeoff from Shawrab Airbase – DenisS Apr 11 '19 at 14:38
  • Nominating for re-opening. The alleged event took place two weeks ago and not a peep has been heard. – DenisS Apr 23 '19 at 18:49

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