An Afghan Air Force MiG-21 jet crashed on the outskirts of Kabul yesterday while practising for a military parade to be held today as part of celebrations to mark the 10th anniversary of the end of communist rule.

One of the two pilots was killed when his parachute did not open after the pair ejected from the plane when it suffered technical problems over Pul-i-Charkhi to the east of the city, witnesses said.

The second pilot floated to the ground but suffered some injuries, they said. "I saw two parachutes in the sky. An explosion and then dust and smoke," witness Ajab Gul told Reuters.

The Pul-i-Charkhi area, about 15km outside the city, was the site of a notorious prison used by Afghanistan's communists to execute opposition mujahideen.

Security officials said the pilots ejected after telling ground controllers they were in trouble. "The message they got back was that they needed to get out of the plane; one made it, but the other one died," an official said.

Debris from plane was strewn over a wide area from where the MiG-21 spiralled into the ground nose first.