Afghanistan - Taliban militants have claimed responsibility for shooting down a NATO drone in Afghanistan's western Herat province, contradicting an earlier NATO account.

Taliban militants issued a statement on a website on Saturday and alleged that is was their fire that brought the aircraft down, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Afghan officials say they have found the wreckage of the US drone in the area, in which the Taliban is active.

NATO, however, says the pilotless plane crashed on Friday due to technical problems.

The Western alliance's officials in Afghanistan say the drone was carrying surveillance antennas when it went down.

The US-led forces appear to have increased drone operations in the region.

The US alone has over 6,000 drones in the country.

GHN/TG/MMA

originally published in Press TV