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Update from Fox News:

Two CIA contractors participating in operations to root out top Al Qaeda terrorists and members of the deposed Taliban were killed several days ago in eastern Afghanistan, intelligence officials told Fox News.

William Carlson, 43, of Southern Pines, N.C., and Christopher Glenn Mueller, 32, of San Diego, were "tracking terrorists operating in the region" of Shkin, a village in eastern Afghanistan, when they were killed Saturday, the CIA said in a statement.

Both were veterans of military special operations forces, the CIA said.

"William Carlson and Christopher Mueller were defined by dedication and courage," CIA Director George J. Tenet said in a statement. "Their sacrifice for the peoples of the United States and Afghanistan must never be forgotten."

The pair was working for the CIA's Directorate of Operations, which conducts clandestine intelligence-gathering and covert operations.

The CIA statement says the agency consulted with the dead officers' families and decided their names could be released without compromising ongoing operations.

They are the third and fourth CIA operatives that the agency has acknowledged have been killed in the line of duty since the Sept. 11 attacks.

The first, paramilitary officer Johnny Micheal Spann (search), was killed during an uprising of Taliban and Al Qaeda prisoners in northern Afghanistan on Nov. 25, 2001.

The second, Helge Boes, died in a training accident in eastern Afghanistan, on Feb. 5, 2003.

The agency did not provide particulars on the ambush or the two operatives' mission.

The region they were operating in is part of the remote mountainous region along the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan, where Usama bin Laden is thought to be hiding. It is also a stronghold for Al Qaeda, Taliban and other anti-U.S. fighters.

When asked if the men were directly hunting for Laden, one source told Fox News: "We can't talk specifically about who they were hunting down ... but, they were definitely after top bad guys."