U.S. Confirms Two Missing Soldiers Are Dead

5 July 2005 (RFE/RL) -- The U.S. military said in a statement today that two members of an American special-forces team missing in eastern Afghanistan for several days are dead.
The statement says the bodies of two members of a missing four-strong Navy SEAL team had been found during search operations on 4 July.

A third member of the team was earlier confirmed to be alive and well in a U.S. military hospital, while the fourth remained unaccounted for.

The statement says the team was part of a force conducting counterterrorism operations in Kunar Province.

A helicopter sent to reinforce that team on 28 June was shot down by what the military believed to be a rocket propelled grenade, killing all 16 navy SEAL commandos and army aviation specialists aboard.

In southern Afghanistan, two Turkish engineers were injured and their Afghan driver killed by Taliban militants on 5 July. Also in the south, suspected militants kidnapped and later killed two Afghan police officers.

In another development, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said today that he is "extremely saddened and distressed" by the death of 17 civilians in a U.S. air strike on 1 July.

(AFP/Reuters/CNN)

See also:

Governor Says U.S. Warplanes Killed 17 Aghan Villagers