Missing US soldier rescued in Afghanistan

Hours after the special forces unit disappeared, a Chinook helicopter such as this was shot down as it went to support them. Picture / Reuters

United States forces have rescued one of the four missing American soldiers in the mountains of remote northeastern Afghanistan, six days after their unit vanished amid heavy fighting with pro-Taleban insurgents.

Pentagon officials gave few specifics of the operation, a welcome piece of good news for the US military amid the recent flare-up of violence across the country.

"There's a search operation ongoing in Kunar for recovery of the missing team, and there's an operation ongoing to deny enemy influence up there," US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jerry O'Hara said earlier.

A few hours after the special forces unit disappeared on June 28, a Chinook helicopter sent to support them was shot down, with the loss of all 16 servicemen aboard.

The military said it believed a rocket-propelled grenade hit the helicopter. The dead included eight elite US Navy Seals and eight members of an Army special operations aviation regiment.

 

Yesterday, CNN quoted a senior US official as saying that the recovered soldier, a member of a special forces reconnaissance team operating in Kunar province, was "in good shape".

He had apparently "evaded the enemy", meaning he had not been taken prisoner - as the Taleban claims was the case for at least one of the missing men.

An intense search continues for the rest of the unit, and further military clashes are likely.

"All our hopes are that we find our missing service members," one US official said.

"It's a very demanding area: very mountainous, very wooded and the likelihood of enemy contact is probable."

Bad weather in the area has impeded the rescue efforts.

There has been no word of any contact from other members of the missing unit since they first called for reinforcements, radioing that they were under fire from insurgent fighters.

The clashes in Kunar province come when US and Afghan Government forces are having to deal with some of the most determined resistance since 2001, almost certainly aimed at disrupting the elections scheduled for September.

In the south, six Afghan soldiers and police officers were killed by a roadside bomb yesterday in Paktika province, east of the major city of Kandahar, while two policemen died in clashes with militants in Oruzgan province to the north of the city.

In separate fighting in the south, US and Afghan forces killed five suspected rebels, while gunmen on motorbikes shot and killed a senior pro-government cleric.

Ten suspected insurgents were also captured after coalition troops and Afghan police raided a rebel camp in the area.

Even as the fighting intensifies, reconciliation efforts are under way between the Government of President Hamid Karzai and the rebels.

Yesterday, 57 suspected insurgents were released from the Bagram air base near Kabul as part of an scheme under which militants are freed if they promise to lay down their arms and support the Government.

Taleban spokesman Mullah Abdul Latif Hakimi said the militia would release footage showing the bodies of seven Afghans who had been captured and killed last week for working for the American military forces.

"We will release the film of the seven American spies we killed, either today or tomorrow," he said from an undisclosed location.

"We will also release a film of the American soldier we've captured but that will take two or three days."

- INDEPENDENT