Xinhua correspondents accompanying a NATO-led International Security Assistance Force team reported from a place some 30 km east of the capital Kabul that the searchers had suspended the operation for the day due to nightfall and freezing weather in the area.

Further operation will resume Saturday morning, officers participating in the salvage effort said.

ISAF spokeswoman Karen Tissot Van Patot also confirmed the suspension of the search bid when answering a phone call from Xinhua.

Earlier, Xinhua has learnt from reliable sources that the possible crash site was narrowed down to Khak-e-Jabbar district, about some 25 km southeast of the capital.

Some media reports said that part of the wreckage has been spotted by search teams, but this could not be independently confirmed.

Local television channels in their nightly broadcasting also quoted Enayatullah Qasemi, newly appointed Afghan transportation minister, as denying any development in the search effort.

The ill-fated Boeing 737-200 owned and operated by Afghanistan's sole private airline lost contact with air traffic controllers Thursday afternoon on its way back to Kabul from western border city of Herat. A total of 104 people were on board. A number of foreigners were also among the passengers but the exact number remains elusive.

(Xinhua News Agency February 5, 2005)