1.9 mln USD for slush fund in Afghanistan burned as plane on fire :

A British military transport aircraft is seen disintegrated after landing in southern Afghanistan. (File Photo)Photo Gallery >>>

BEIJING, Oct. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- More than 1.9 million U.S. dollars in cash was burned on May 24 when a British military transport aircraft caught fire after landing in southern Afghanistan, according to The Daily Mail on Sunday.

The money, packed into two four-wheel-drive vehicles being carried on the British Hercules C-130 plane, was reportedly intended to "buy off" local warlords against the Taliban.

The British Ministry of Defence on Friday night confirmed that a "sizeable amount of cash" was being transported by the plane.

It was said that the RAF aircraft had flown in a "black operation" from Kabul to the crude dirt landing strip outside the town of Lashkar Gar in Helmand province.

Since the pilot managed to touch down, there were no casualties. Stephen Evans, the British ambassador to Afghanistan, and special forces on board escaped the burning plane in seconds, the paper said.

(Agencies)

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