Posted on 07/01/2005 2:54:00 AM PDT by Dog
KABUL, July 1 (Reuters) - U.S. forces remain unable to locate a small U.S. reconnaissance team that a Special Forces unit was going to support when their helicopter was shot down, killing all 16 troops aboard, the U.S. military said on Friday.
While U.S. forces do not know the whereabouts of the team, they have no reason to believe that its members, last heard of shortly before Tuesday afternoon's crash, had been killed or captured, U.S. spokesman Colonel Jim Yonts said.
Yonts said he could "not confirm or deny" a claim by Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi that the insurgents executed seven U.S. "spies" before the MH-47 helicopter was shot down in Kunar province bordering Pakistan.
"We do not have eyes on them right now, but there is no reason to believe that they are dead. If there was proof that they were killed they would be classified as killed," he said.
Yonts said the ill-fated helicopter was sent in after the reconnaissance team requested support, but it was not at the location when the aircraft arrived.
He said there was no evidence, such as blood, to indicate team members had been killed, or to suggest they had been captured by al Qaeda insurgents, whom the military has said it is hunting in Kunar.
Yonts said he could not say how many soldiers were in the team. "It was small reconnaissance team with a small number of members."
He said a major anti-insurgent operation codenamed "Redwing" was continuing in Kunar. It included efforts to locate the missing team and complete recovery and investigation operations at the crash site.
BIGGEST COMBAT BLOW
The loss of the twin-rotor Chinook was the biggest single combat blow to U.S. forces since their overthrew the Taliban in 2001 and came amid stepped-up insurgent activity since March in which another 14 U.S. troops have died in hostile action.
The military identified the troops killed in Tuesday's crash as eight from airborne special forces units and eight Navy Seal commandos.
Lt. Gen. James Conway, director of operations for the U.S. military's Joint Staff, told a Pentagon news briefing on Thursday an undisclosed number of ground troops were "unaccounted for" -- a terminology that can encompass soldiers killed in action whose bodies have not been recovered or troops still alive.
He said none had been classified "missing", a military definition including troops who may be captured or surrounded.
On Thursday, the British Broadcasting Corp quoted U.S. military officials as saying that 13 bodies bodies had been recovered from the crash site but that seven servicemen, including some who had been fighting on the ground, were unaccounted for.
The report said some may have been captured.
Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi, whose information has often been unreliable, said the guerrillas shot down the helicopter with "a new type of weapon" he did not describe.
Conway said the pilots of a second U.S. aircraft had reported seeing a rocket-propelled grenade fired by insurgents at the helicopter and there was no indication a more sophisticated ground-to-air system was involved.
General Aminullah Patyani, the Afghan army commander for the east of the country, said the helicopter crashed in the Dar-e-Paich area about 30 km (19 miles) northwest of Asadabad. He said he had no information about U.S. troops being captured.
The U.S. military said work at the crash site had been hampered by the presence of militants in the area, cloudy weather and mountainous, heavily wooded terrain
The news this morning is not good I'm afraid.
I am sure if they were taken prisoner that the Taliban will respect their bibles.
A prayer goes out for all of them.
fyi..
yes.
and it seems as if something is going on of a nefarious nature with our 'afghan allies' in the region.
Prayers sent from TX.
Prayers sent from TX.
Prayers for our service people, their families and friends.
This is the real war of the worlds, West vs Islam.
/1950's style Korean U.N. joint-communications networks!
....they are targeting are 'pilots'.....for sure....
prayers....for families and trainers......
PRAYERS FOR OUR TROOPS FROM ONEIDA!
GODSPEED!
bookmark
They will make it out just fine.!!
Hopefully the team is hunkered down.
I'm going to remain positive for them until I hear otherwise. God bless them and take care of them.
The hostile press will play this up, but not put it in the context of how close to the edge of the envelope the 160th always flies their aircraft. It is always dangerous in training or real world, and to have lost just one plane in 2 or 3 years of hostile insertions/extractions is amazing flying.
A special forces team on the ground, with militants in the area, no evidence that they are dead, and no one claiming that they have them?
Dog - that's not bad news - that's special forces at work.
This doesn't soon good, Prayers up. Anyone have an idea of how many "a small team" might be?
soon = sound
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