BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- An Afghan civil airliner that was missing Thursday afternoon was confirmed crashed, local media said Friday.

    The airliner, carrying 96 passengers, was traveling from the western city of Herat to the capital since late Thursday afternoon.On board the plane were also six Russian crew members and two Afghan staff.

    International peacekeepers and the Afghan military were mobilized to search for the plane in the northern mountain area.

    The following is a chronology of the world's major air crashes since 2003:

    Jan. 8, 2003 -- A total of 75 passengers and crew were killed when a Turkish RJ-100 jetliner, on a flight from Istanbul, crashedin heavy fog at Diyarbakir airport in southeastern Turkey. Five people survived.

    Jan. 9, 2003 -- A Peruvian airliner crashed in northern Peru, killing 46 people aboard.

    Feb. 1, 2003 -- Seven astronauts were killed as US space shuttle Columbia broke apart on its way back to the ground.

    Feb. 19, 2003 -- An Iranian military plane crashed near Kerman in southeastern Iran. Iran said all 276 soldiers and crew aboard were killed.

    March 6, 2003 -- An Algerian flag carrier Boeing 737-200 crashed shortly after takeoff from Tamanrasset airport, killing atleast 102 passengers and crew.

    May 26, 2003 -- A Ukrainian YK-42 passenger plane heading to Spain went down near the Trabzon Airport in northeastern Turkey, killing 74, including 62 Spanish soldiers returning from their peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan.

    July 8, 2003 -- A Sudanese Boeing 737 crashed shortly after taking off from Port Sudan airport, killing 104 passengers and 11 crew members. A two-year-old passenger was the only survivor.

    Dec. 25, 2003 -- A Boeing 727 owned by Union des Transports Africains crashed en route to Beirut over the coastal capital of Cotonou, Benin, with 151 passengers and 10 crew members on board. Only 21 people survived.

    Jan. 3, 2004 -- An Egyptian Boeing 737 crashed into the Red Seashortly after taking off from the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, killing all the 135 passengers and 13 crew members aboard.

    Feb. 10, 2004 -- An Iranian Kish Airlines plane crashed in the United Arab Emirates. Forty-three of the 46 people on board died.

    Aug. 24, 2004 -- Two Russian passenger airliners, a Tu-134 jet and a Tu-154 jetliner, crashed almost simultaneously in different regions of Russia, killing all the 89 people on board.

    Nov. 30, 2004 -- A McDonnell-Douglas MD-82, operated by Indonesia's domestic carrier Lion Air and carrying around 160 passengers and crew, skidded off a runway at Solo city's airport after landing in heavy rain. Investigators said bad weather was probably to blame for the accident in central Java, which killed at least 31 people and injuring 75. Forty-seven people went missing.

    Jan. 26, 2005 -- Thirty US Marines and one sailor were killed in the crash of a big American CH-53E military helicopter near Ar Rutbah in Al Anbar Province in Iraq.Enditem