Search for U.S. soldiers slowed by fierce firefight
Details on pair’s disappearance unclear
KABUL, Afghanistan – More than 25 members of international and Afghan security forces were injured Friday in fierce fighting in northwest Afghanistan while carrying out a large-scale manhunt for two missing American soldiers, military officials said.
The two paratroopers from the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, disappeared Wednesday during a resupply mission, the military said in a statement.
The military provided no further details on the disappearance, and neither NATO nor Afghan officials immediately explained how their forces got into the firefight, nor did they provide a breakdown of the casualties.
Such disappearances are rare. The last time an American service member went missing in Afghanistan was in June, when Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl was captured after straying from a U.S. base near the eastern border with Pakistan. On July 18, Taliban insurgents released a video of the 23-year-old soldier from Idaho. He has not been found.
Afghan officials indicated it was unlikely that the two other missing Americans had been captured.
The Afghan western regional police chief, Ikram Uddin Yawar, said a helicopter with NATO had been dropping food supplies in the Bala Murghab district of Badghis province when some of the boxes ended up in a river. He said the two missing soldiers were swept away by strong currents when they tried to retrieve the food.
U.S. and NATO officials would not verify the account while the search was under way.
“We are doing everything we can to find them,” said Navy Capt. Jane Campbell, a spokeswoman for the coalition. “The families of these service members have been notified about their loved ones’ status, and we will continue to keep them informed as information becomes available.”
The 82nd Airborne Division is based at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.
Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman reached by telephone, claimed the militants ambushed the joint forces in the same district where the soldiers went missing. He said three Taliban insurgents were killed in the clash.