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Tuesday, 05 July 2005

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)

source

July 5, 2005
Release Number: 05-07-02C

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TWO U.S. SERVICE MEMBERS KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN

KABUL, Afghanistan – Coalition forces located the bodies of two U.S. service members during a combat search and rescue operation July 4 in Kunar province.

The service members’ whereabouts had been unknown since June 28. They were part of a force conducting counter-terrorism operations in Kunar. An MH-47 helicopter carrying troops to support the force crashed June 28.

The two service members were taken to the U.S. military hospital at Bagram Airfield where they were pronounced dead. Their names are being withheld until notification of their next-of-kin.

Another member of the force was located and airlifted to the Bagram hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The whereabouts of one service member remains unknown.

http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/Casualty_Report.asp?CasualtyReport=20050702.txt

Ditto to DevSix. Another interesting thing is now that we have say 100+ soldiers in the area the Taliban/Al Quida have seemed to have moved out of the area. Looks like things are a little to hot for them.