According to the office, three Embraer 314 military aircraft of the Afghan Air Force requested permission to land at the Khanabad airport in Karshi in the Kashkadarya region in southern Uzbekistan on Sunday. They were redirected to the Termez airport and escorted by two MiG-29 military aircraft of the Uzbekistan Air Force.
"However, during the observation, the Embraer 314 and MiG-29 aircraft collided and crashed in the Sherabad district of the Surkhandarya region. The pilots of these aircraft landed by parachute," the statement says.
A member of Taliban forces inspects the area outside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan August 16, 2021
© REUTERS / STRINGER
The statement was published by the Prosecutor General's Office after Tashkent earlier in the day reported that around 50 aircraft from Afghanistan had illegally crossed the Uzbek border. One of the military planes was downed by Uzbek air defences, but two crew members managed to survive the crash.
The wave of planes was prompted by the recent Taliban* offensive since the radical movement took over Afghanistan, seizing control over the borders and capturing all major cities across the country.
*The Taliban is a terrorist organisation banned in Russia and many other nations.