A US military source today said there were no CIA staff on a jet which crashed in Afghanistan on Monday after Iranian media claimed the officer behind Qassem Soleimani's death was among those killed.

The source told the MailOnline the wild claim that Michael D'Andrea was aboard the jet which crashed in Dih Yak, or indeed that any CIA members had been killed, was absurd.

A US official earlier confirmed the bodies of two American personnel had been recovered from the crash site while denying Taliban claims the E-11A communications jet containing 'high ranking officers' had been shot down.

Iranian media had amplified the Taliban narrative, claiming that D'Andrea - who played 'a pivotal role in many acts of terror, including the assassination of IRGC Quds Force commander Lieutenant General Qasem Soleimani' - had been killed.

Iranian state TV even broadcast a photograph of Hollywood star Fredric Lehne - who played a CIA operative in the movie 'Zero Dark Thirty' - asserting that the actor was D'Andrea



The Taliban said it was responsible for shooting down the aircraft, a Bombardier E-11A which is used by the US Air Force to carry out surveillance missions. The terror group further claimed they ambushed US and Afghan personnel arriving on the scene, however the US official today said the military were not met with resistance

Among other spurious reports across Farsi channels was that up to 100 had died amid fanatical claims of retribution for the US strike on Soleimani in Baghdad earlier this month.

Iranian propaganda agency, Mehr News, cited the pro-Kremlin website Veterans Today, which quoted Russian intelligence sources claiming D'Andrea had been killed and vital intelligence aboard the jet seized.

It claimed that the jet was not a standard US communications plane, but D'Andrea's mobile command centre and was also carrying other high-ranking operatives.

D'Andrea's name began to crop up frequently across Farsi news sites in the wake of the US drone strike which killed Soleimani.

According to Iran's Tasnim agency - which has strong links to the IRGC - 'D'Andrea is the most prominent figure in the US CIA in the Middle East.'

territory of Deh Yak district in Ghazni Province
Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, claimed yesterday that several high-ranking American officers were among the dead after the plane came down at 1.10pm local time.

He also claimed that Taliban forces had ambushed Afghan forces backed by U.S. military who had been sent to secure the crash site.

However, a US official speaking today said the American recovery teams met no Taliban resistance in reaching the crash site.

The official was speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of an official announcement on the crash.

Monday's plane crash is not expected to derail U.S.-Taliban peace talks if the crash investigation determines, as expected, that it was not the result of hostile action.
As per our information, there are four bodies and two onboard were alive and they are missing,' Wardak said, adding that the forces subsequently received an order to retreat and airborne action is to be taken instead.

Taliban spokesman Mujahid said Afghan forces backed by U.S. military support had tried to capture the area around the crashed aircraft and clashed with fighters of the Islamist militant group.

The attempt was repelled, however, he told Reuters, but added that the Taliban would allow a rescue team access to recover bodies from the crash site.

'Taliban fighters on the ground counted six bodies at the site of the U.S. airplane crash,' he said, adding that while there could have been more, the militant group could not be certain, as fire had reduced everything to ashes.



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