The US military said on Tuesday what was first believed to be a ground-to-air missile attack on two transport planes in Afghanistan was no such thing. A spokesman for US Central Command in Florida said that there was no evidence of such an attack and flashes on the ground may have been part of celebrations marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
A Marines spokesman in the southern Afghan town of Kandahar earlier told reporters that two C-130 transport planes came under fire over the southern desert from ground-to-air missiles believed to be US-made Stingers.
If true, it would have been the first such attack since Marines last week took over the airport near the southern city of Kandahar, the former stronghold of the routed Taliban.
"Two different aircraft saw two different missiles shot in their general direction," Captain David Romley said in Kandahar.
The aircraft ejected flares as counter-measures to avoid being hit and neither aircraft was damaged, he added.
Romley said that the incidents happened separately early on Tuesday, about 30 minutes apart.
US Central Command in Florida later dismissed the report, although the planes did take evasive action after seeing flashes from the ground.
There was no evidence to support any anti-aircraft fire, the spokesman, Marines Major Ralph Mills said.
He said that muzzle flashes observed coming from the ground were believed to have been part of the Eid al-Fitr celebrations marking the end of Ramadan.

"No bursts were seen and no tracer rounds were fired," said Mills, explaining why initial fears of anti-aircraft fire against the planes Tuesday were later discounted.
US Central Command, overseeing the war in Afghanistan, reported that the two planes, which were taking off from Kandahar when they saw the flashes, took evasive action by turning away from the direction of the suspected gunfire. Neither plane sustained any damage.
US marines are clearing Kandahar airfield of mines and building a detention center for captured al Qaeda fighters loyal to Osama bin Laden.
In the 1980s, Washington funneled billions of dollars worth of military help to the mujahideen, or holy warriors, and this aid included modern Stinger missiles that downed the dreaded Soviet helicopter gunships.

The Taliban were believed to still have some of the Stingers, although they were thought to be out-of-date and possibly unusable since their batteries must be carefully maintained.
The United States launched its war on Afghanistan on Oct. 7 to flush out bin Laden, its prime suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, and punish his Taliban protectors. Bureau Report