U.S. forces rescue member of elite military team
KABUL, Afghanistan – A member of an elite American military team missing in Afghan mountains since last week has been rescued, while U.S. forces today pushed on with their search for other members of the group still unaccounted for, U.S. military officials said.
The rescued American serviceman was being rushed to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, a U.S. Defense Department official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of ongoing search and rescue operations.
He declined to say when the rescue occurred or provide other details, including reaction to specific reports that the team consisted of three U.S. Navy Seals.
U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O’Hara declined to comment on the rescued serviceman but said an unspecified number of other troops were still missing in the mountains.
“We still have missing servicemembers. The search continues and all available assets are being used,” he said.
The small special operations unit was reported missing last Tuesday in mountains in Kunar province, near the border with Pakistan, setting off an extensive U.S. military search.
A rescue effort the same day ended in tragedy when a transport helicopter seeking to extract the team was shot down, killing 16 troops aboard. It was the deadliest single blow yet to American forces who ousted the Taliban in 2001.
The deaths brought to 45 the number of U.S. forces killed in Afghanistan over the last three months as a revitalized Taliban has stepped up its insurgency ahead of fall elections.
A purported Taliban spokesman, Mullah Latif Hakimi, claimed last week that militants had captured one member of the team and said he was a “high-ranking American” caught in the same area as where the helicopter went down, but refused to elaborate.
Hakimi, who also claimed insurgents shot down the helicopter, often calls news organizations to take responsibility for attacks, and the information frequently proves exaggerated or untrue. His exact tie to the Taliban leadership is unclear.
U.S. officials said there was no evidence indicating that any of the soldiers had been taken into captivity.
Elsewhere, hundreds of Afghan soldiers who are in the mountains and fighting alongside U.S. troops have encircled a small group of suspected al Qaeda fighters, but no leaders of Osama bin Laden’s network are believed to be in the area, Defense Minister Rahim Wardak told The Associated Press.
Wardak said the rugged, wooded mountains in Kunar are popular with militants because they are “easy to infiltrate and get out quickly.” He said al-Qaeda is not believed to have permanent bases there but small teams of fighters roam the area.
“Some enemy have been encircled. But we don’t believe there is a high-profile target there,” he said.
Hitting back at the insurgency, U.S. and Afghan forces killed five suspected Taliban rebels Saturday in mountains east of Kandahar, local police chief Gulam Rassol said. Ten suspected rebels also were captured. U.S.-led coalition troops and Afghan police had raided a rebel camp in the area and were still searching Sunday for more insurgents, he said.
Taliban-led rebels have targeted hundreds of people linked to Karzai’s government in an unprecedented surge in violence since March which has left nearly 700 people dead and threatened three years of progress toward peace.