SEAL Team on downed helicopter

[Moses]

www.nytimes.com/2005/06/29/international/asia/29afghan.html

The MH-47 helicopter was carrying 15 to 20 people, including a team of Navy Seal commandos, when it went down near the city of Asadabad in Kunar Province, but the number of casualties and the cause of the crash were unknown, the officials said.

The crash occurred as American casualties in Afghanistan have been rising again in the last three months in unexpectedly fierce combat against fighters for the Taliban and Al Qaeda. The United States has been conducting operations along the border with Pakistan to root out remaining fighters, but the opposition has proven stiffer than expected in some places, the officials said.

The United States has long been worried about the Taliban's ability to hit its helicopters with rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons. Nine helicopters have been lost to various causes in Afghanistan since the Taliban were ousted from control of Kabul, the capital, in 2001.

The MH-47 is a version of the ubiquitous Chinook large transport helicopter modified to carry Special Operations forces, and it carries electronic sensors and other defenses against ground fire. In Afghanistan, the helicopter is flown almost exclusively at night, a Special Operations officer said Tuesday.

A statement put out by the American command in Kabul said the helicopter was ferrying "additional forces" into a combat area where counterterrorism operations had been under way. The statement added, "U.S. fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters are currently providing close air support to the forces on the ground."

The helicopter was the second Chinook to go down in Afghanistan this year. Fifteen American military personnel and three civilians were killed in April when their helicopter went down in a sandstorm while returning to the airbase at Bagram. So far this year, 38 members of the American military have died in Afghanistan, including 13 in combat, according to Pentagon figures put out before the latest crash. In all of 2004, 52 Americans died in Afghanistan.

Loss of Seal commandos, if confirmed, would be a hard blow to the small, tight-knit force, which has been stretched thin by operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Seal forces were also involved in the battle in March 2002 at Takur Ghar, where seven Americans were killed in one of the deadliest firefights of the Afghanistan war.

The American base at Asadabad near the crash site is ringed by tall mountains and deep valleys that provide ample places for Taliban fighters who could shoot down a helicopter, said a Special Forces officer familiar with the location.

[Moses]

The 17 service members included eight Navy SEALs, the sources added.

Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told senators Wednesday that the “tragedy ... appears to be a shootdown of one of our special operations helicopters.”

“We think it was an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade), but are not 100 percent” sure, Pace told a Senate committee during a hearing on his nomination to be chairman of the joint chiefs.

The troops were on a mission against al-Qaida fighters when the helicopter went down in a mountainous region near Asadabad and close to the border with Pakistan.

“Initial reports indicate the crash may have been caused by hostile fire,” a U.S. military statement said.

Site secured
Coalition and Afghan troops “quickly moved into position around the crash to block any enemy movement toward or away from the site” and coalition support aircraft were overhead, the statement said.

The helicopter was carrying forces into the area as part of Operation Red Wing against al-Qaida militants, the military said.

“Coalition troops on the ground in this area came in contact with enemy forces and requested additional forces to be inserted into this operation,” Yonts said. “That is why there was an aircraft, that is how it arrived on the battlefield.”

The U.S. military knew from its contacts with local leaders and residents that “terrorist organizations” were operating in the area of the crash, Yonts said.

“That did not come as a surprise to us, this area has been known to harbor those terrorist organizations or personnel,” he said.

Taliban claim
Provincial Gov. Asadullah Wafa told The Associated Press the Taliban downed the aircraft with a rocket. He gave no other details.

Purported Taliban spokesman Mullah Latif Hakimi telephoned the AP before news of the crash was released and said the rebels shot the helicopter down.

He said the rebels filmed the attack and would release the video to the media. He also claimed that rebels killed seven U.S. soldiers in an attack in the same area, although U.S. spokeswomen Lt. Cindy Moore said no such attack had been made on an American convoy.

Hakimi often calls news organizations to claim responsibility for attacks on behalf of the Taliban. His information has sometimes proven untrue or exaggerated, and his exact tie to the group’s leadership is unclear.

'Further our resolve'
“This is a tragic event for all of us, and our hearts and prayers go out to the families, loved ones and men still fighting in the area,” said U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Greg Champion, deputy commanding general of Combined Joint Task Force-76. “This incident will only further our resolve to defeat the enemies of peace.”

The crash was the second of a Chinook helicopter in Afghanistan this year. On April 6, 15 U.S. service members and three American civilians were killed when their chopper went down in a sandstorm while returning to the main U.S. base at Bagram.

The U.S. military has launched operations in several areas along the border with Pakistan. Those offensives target remnants of al-Qaida and the hard-line Taliban movement, as well as foreign fighters using high mountain passes to cross the largely uncontrolled border from Pakistan.

Tuesday’s crash came after three months of unprecedented fighting that has killed about 465 suspected insurgents, 29 U.S. troops, 43 Afghan police and soldiers, and 125 civilians.

The violence has left much of Afghanistan off-limits to aid workers and has heightened concerns that the war here is escalating into a conflict on the scale of that in Iraq.

Afghan and U.S. officials have predicted the situation will deteriorate in the lead-up to legislative elections in September — the next key step toward democracy after a quarter-century of war.
MSNBC

[Moses]

1 hour, 6 minutes ago

Thirteen bodies recovered


KABUL (Reuters) - Thirteen bodies have been recovered from the crash site of a U.S. military helicopter in eastern Afghanistan, but another seven U.S. soldiers are unaccounted for, the British Broadcasting Corp said on Thursday. [=20 T]



A report on the BBC Web Site quoted unnamed U.S. military officials on the recovery of the bodies from the site of Tuesday's crash in Kunar province, which borders Pakistan.

General Aminullah Patyani, the Afghan army commander for the east of the country, told Reuters "a few bodies" had been found at the site in the Dar-e-Paich area about 30 km (19 miles) northwest of Asadabad, but he did not know how many.

Patyani said the search operation was still going on but he did not have any information about any U.S. troops being captured by insurgents.

The BBC report said officials had said there was still hope that some of those unaccounted for were alive, but it also quoted correspondent Andrew North as saying that they may also have been captured by insurgents.

It said the BBC's North was at the U.S. military base at Asadabad, capital of Kunar. The aircraft crashed in the province after being hit by insurgent fire, the U.S. military said.

A U.S. military spokeswoman Kabul, Lieutenant Cindy Moore, said she could not confirm the BBC report.

"I don't know where they are getting that information," she said. I don't have what they are saying.

A U.S. official said in Washington Wednesday that all 17 U.S. troops aboard the helicopter, who included elite U.S. Navy Seals, were presumed to have died.

The U.S. military has yet to confirm any deaths.

A statement Thursday said U.S. forces had secured crash site and were "assessing the cause of the crash and the status of the 17 service members."

It said U.S.-led forces were continuing an anti-militant operation codenamed "Redwing" in Kunar but gave no details.

The twin-rotor Chinook, which crashed during an anti-al-Qaeda operation, was probably struck by a rocket propelled grenade, General Peter Pace, vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff told a Congressional hearing in Washington.

Hakimi, whose information has often proven unreliable in the past, also said Wednesday that the guerrillas had killed seven U.S. "spies" in the area before shooting down the helicopter.

The U.S. military said the Chinook was hit as it approached a landing zone while bringing in reinforcements to assist troops on the ground and crashed 1-2 km (half to one mile) away.

[Moses]

It looks like the SEALs who had been aboard had possibly been inserted on the ground before the chopper was shot down? It sounds like they may not have been in US uniforms.

[Moses]

One reallly can't assess w/o the details of the mission (which, given the secrecy of this Admin we may never know) but it seems like this could be another horrific instance of the failure of the Rumsfeld/Cheney War theorists' theories failing, in practice.

[Moses]

?

Pentagon says 16 U.S. troops died in Afghan crash

34 minutes ago


U.S. forces have recovered the bodies of 16 American troops killed in this week's crash of a U.S. helicopter in eastern Afghanistan and other U.S. troops who had been at the scene were unaccounted for, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

Marine Corps Lt. Gen. James Conway, director of operations for the U.S. military's Joint Staff, told a Pentagon briefing that the U.S. military does not have "full accountability" for U.S. troops who were on the ground at the time the helicopter went down on Tuesday.

"At this point, we have recovered all 16 bodies of those servicemen who were on board the MH-47 helicopter that crashed on Tuesday. Positive identification and family notification are under way and expected to be completed soon," Conway said.

The MH-47 Chinook helicopter, a Special Forces variant of the U.S. military's CH-47 twin-rotor workhorse, crashed on Tuesday during an operation against enemy fighters in rugged, heavily wooded terrain in Kunar province.

U.S. military officials have said the Chinook wasprobably struck by a rocket-propelled grenade fired by enemy fighters.

Asked whether the U.S. military had accounted for the U.S. troops who were on the ground, Conway said, "It's is an ongoing operation. ... And we don't have full accountability nor will we until such time as the operation is complete."

Chief Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said the purpose of the helicopter's mission was to reinforce American troops on the ground who were fighting insurgents.

"We just are not able to account for any other personnel yet -- not in terms of people involved in rescue or anything like that," Di Rita said.

"There's an ongoing rescue mission and we just don't have any more to confirm than what we have confirmed," Di Rita said.

---

Copyright © 2005 Reuters Limited.
Copyright © 2005 Yahoo! Inc.

[Moses]

The Pentagon said that the dead in the helicopter crash included seven soldiers from an Army Special Operations aviation unit from Hunter Army Airfield, Ga.; one soldier from a Special Operations aviation unit from Fort Campbell, Ky.; and eight Navy Seal personnel from units in Norfolk, Va., and San Diego.

www.nytimes.com/2005/07/02/international/middleeast/02afghan.html

[Moses]

U.S. Troops Killed in Afghan Copter Crash 

Sunday, July 03, 2005 5:58 p.m. ET
By The Associated Press

Eight Navy SEALs and eight members of the Army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment known as the Night Stalkers were aboard the Chinook helicopter that crashed in the eastern mountains of Afghanistan on Tuesday, the military said. It was the deadliest single blow to American forces fighting an escalating insurgency in the country.

CLARKS GROVE, Minn. _ Warrant Officer Corey J. Goodnature, 35, was on his fourth tour of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq.

....Corey Goodnature was assigned to the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment based at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Ga. He and his wife, Lori, lived in Savannah, Ga., with their two sons, Shea, 14, and Brennan, 12.

---

NEW ORLEANS _ Chief Petty Officer Jacques Fontan, 36, was serving his final days of deployment when he was killed, relatives said. .... Fontan joined the Navy 17 years ago, said his father, Earl Fontan. He served as a fire control specialist aboard Navy fighting ships, managing electronics that controlled weapons systems, and was a veteran of the first Persian Gulf War. He was serving at the Naval Amphibious Base in Little Creek, Va.


PRINEVILLE, Ore. _ Petty Officer 1st Class Jeff Lucas had been in the Navy since he was just 17 and had been assigned to Afghanistan since last November, his family said.

Lucas doted on his wife, Rhonda, and his 4-year-old son, Seth, said his father, Rick Lucas. They live in Virginia Beach, Va., where Jeff Lucas had been stationed for the past several years.
"I feel like I lost a good friend," his father said.

Lucas, 34, had been a running back in high school and played basketball and ran track, Rick Lucas said. ....

---

INDIANAPOLIS _ Sgt. 1st Class Marcus V. Muralles planned to return to the United States in time to celebrate his daughter's 10th birthday on Monday until another medic suffered a leg injury, family members said.

....Muralles, 33, had been in the Army since 1994 and was a flight medic in the elite special operations forces.

....He served with the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment.

---

POMPANO BEACH, Fla. _ Sgt. Kip A. Jacoby grew up in Pompano Beach and enlisted in the Army in October 2002, the year he graduated from high school.

....Jacoby, 21, was trained as a helicopter repairman. His assignment was as a flight engineer in the Army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment.

---

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. _ Chief Warrant Officer Chris Scherkenbach had served tours in Germany and Korea before being sent to Afghanistan.

....The 40-year-old Jacksonville native had enlisted in the Army in 1987. He was based with the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment at Hunter Army Airfield, Ga.

---

DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. _ Petty Officer 2nd Class James Suh had joined the Navy in early 2001, when he was 24.

He began his rigorous SEAL training five months after he entered the Navy. His latest assignment was in SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team One, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

---

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. _ Lt. Cmdr. Erik S. Kristensen, 33, was the senior officer among the SEAL team, Pentagon officials said.
He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1997 and was assigned to SEAL Team Ten in Virginia Beach, Va.

Kristensen was the only child of retired Read Adm. Edward K. Kristensen and Suzanne Kristensen, who live in the Washington area. His father oversaw the Navy's salvage efforts of TWA Flight 800, which crashed off Long Island, N.Y., in 1996, The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk reported.

---

FRANKLIN, Tenn. _ Sgt. 1st Class James "Tre" Ponder III was an unlikely hero _ "not real tall, somewhat thin, but tough as nails," said his father-in-law, the mayor of Ponder's hometown in central Tennessee.

Ponder, 36, grew up in Franklin, 15 miles south of Nashville, and enlisted in the Army after a few semesters at Auburn University.
He was a father of two young girls and a flight commander stationed with the Army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment at Fort Campbell, Ky. He had been overseas for about three weeks when the helicopter was shot down, Miller said.

---

WASHINGTON, Conn. _ Maj. Steve Reich carried the U.S. flag for Team USA as its pitcher in the early 1990s, then proved his patriotism on the battlefield in Afghanistan.

Reich, 34, was on his fourth tour of duty. He had been a company commander in the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment at Hunter Army Airfield, Ga., and had been married just four months earlier.

As a young man, Reich had been a star pitcher for the U.S. Military Academy and represented Team USA in 1993 at the World University games on a team that included major leaguers Paul Wilson, Todd Helton, Todd Walker and Dustin Hermanson. He pitched briefly in the Baltimore Orioles system in 1996 before being recalled to active duty.


Sue Reich, mother of U.S. Army Maj. Stephen C. Reich, is consoled outside the First Congregational Church after a service for her son Sunday, July 3, 2005, in Washington, Conn.

....Helton, now a first baseman for the Colorado Rockies, remembered Reich as "one of the nicest guys I ever met."

---

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. _ Master Sgt. Michael Russell had been sent to Afghanistan six times since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but he never complained about the deployments.

....The 31-year-old flight engineer was a member of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment at Hunter Army Airfield, Ga. He had joined the Army after graduating from North Stafford High School in 1991.
His father, Lee Russell, said he last spoke with his son a few days before his deployment a month and a half ago.
"When he went back this time, he told me they would be really busy," Lee Russell said. On previous missions, he said, his son had been able to call or e-mail once every two weeks. ....

___
MANCHESTER, N.H. _ Senior Chief Petty Officer Dan Healy joined the military after high school and became a Navy SEAL and father of four.

He was midway through a six-month tour in the Middle East when the helicopter was shot down, his mother, Natalie Healy, said.

....Dan Healy, 36, had gone to school in Exeter, N.H. He had two children living in San Diego and two in Honolulu, where he was stationed at Pearl Harbor, his mother said. ....

___
PORTVILLE, N.Y. _ Lt. Michael McGreevy was the kid who had it all.

"He was a great athlete, great student, nice personality, and was so polite," said Linda Scott, a high school guidance counselor in Portville, a town of about 4,000 near the Pennsylvania border.
McGreevy graduated third in his class, then enrolled at the U.S. Naval Academy for a career serving his country.

At 30, he was a Navy SEAL with a 1-year-old child in Virginia Beach, Va.
___
BECKLEY, W.Va. _ Petty Officer 1st Class Jeff Taylor joined the Navy after high school and became a medic on a SEALs quick response team with dreams of going into an officer training program.

His family knew he had been deployed but didn't know where until Navy officials knocked on their door, said his step-father, Jim Bowman.

"We only knew he was deployed. We are not allowed to know where he is," Bowman said. "What they were doing was pretty secretive."


___
LAS VEGAS _ Petty Officer 2nd Class Eric Shane Patton was following in his father's steps when he joined the military and became a Navy SEAL.
"Boulder City and the state of Nevada lost a true hero. His sacrifice and love of country will not be forgotten," said Keith Gronquist, a court administrator who works with Patton's father, James Patton, a city marshal and retired Navy SEAL.
Eric Patton was a 2000 graduate of Boulder City High School.
___
DANVILLE, Ohio _ Staff Sgt. Shamus Goare tricked his mother into letting him join the military at the age of 17, shortly before his high school graduation.

Twelve years later, he was a member of an elite Army team known as the Night Stalkers, trained to fly special forces commandos behind enemy lines under cover of night.

His father, Charles Goare, said he and his wife were proud of their son, a member of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment based at Hunter Army Airfield, Ga. He remembered how their son had fooled his mother, Judy, into signing his enlistment form.

"He told her it was a form for something else; I don't remember what," Charles Goare said. "That was 11 years ago."

"He thought maybe he's get to see the world before he went to college," he said. "Then he just stayed in."

---

Copyright © 2005 Associated Press.

Special ops soldier rescued in Afghanistan; families plan memorials

08:15 PM EDT on Sunday, July 3, 2005
By WAYNE CARTER / 13News

A member of a special ops team that went missing was rescued in Afghanistan Sunday, while the bodies of a team sent to rescue them arrived back to America.

A military helicopter was bringing reinforcements to the team when it crashed on Tuesday, killing all 16 service members aboard. Five of the victims were Navy SEALS based in Hampton Roads.

The victims include Petty Officer First Class Jeff Lucas, whose wife and 4-year-old son live in Virginia Beach.

"He died doing what he wanted to do," said brother Jamie Lucas. "[He was] right where he wanted to be, too -- right in the middle of it. I'm very proud of him.

Chief Petty Officer Jaques Fontan also died in the crash. The seven-year SEAL grew up in New Orleans, but settled with his wife and daughter in the Beach.

Lt. Michael McGreevy grew up in Buffalo, where he's being remembered.

"I just remember Mike as a kid that was always smiling -- always up to a challenge," said Principal Kevin Curran.

Petty Officer First Class Jeffrey Taylor and Lt. Cmdr. Erik Kristensen were also killed in the crash. The men were assigned to SEAL Team 10 based in Little Creek.

The other three SEALS were based in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Eight Army soldiers were also aboard the helicopter. One of the victims was 31-year-old Sgt. Michael Russell of Stafford, Va.

The bodies of those SEALS and other service members killed in the crash are back in the United States. Memorial services are being planned locally.

[Moses]

Second missing U.S. soldier located - Afghan governor
04 Jul 2005 14:47:47 GMT
Source: Reuters
Background
CRISIS PROFILE: Afghanistan still the ‘sick man’ of Asia

MORE

(Adds Interior Ministry comment, attack on Turks)


By David Brunnstrom

KABUL, July 4 (Reuters) - A second American soldier missing in Afghanistan for the past week has been located, a provincial governor said on Monday, adding that 17 civilians died in a U.S. air raid last week during a search for the missing troops.

After declining to comment over the weekend about reports of civilian deaths in Friday's air strike in Kunar province, the U.S. military said on Monday it had killed an "unknown" number of militants and civilians and regretted the loss of innocent life.

Kunar Governor Assadullah Wafa told Reuters earlier an investigation by Afghan security forces showed 17 civilians had been killed in the air raid on a village during a search for a small group of U.S. soldiers missing since last Tuesday.

He also said Afghan forces received information on Sunday night that a wounded American was being treated by villagers in a remote mountainous part of the province.

"Our troops are trying to reach the place," he said. "Villagers have him and are treating him for wounds. But the soldier has not been handed over as yet.

"He is safe and there is no danger to his life. This is a very difficult terrain -- big trees and mountains."

Wafa said the soldier was in the same area where a U.S. helicopter sent to rescue the troops was shot down by militants last Tuesday, killing all 16 U.S. Special Forces soldiers aboard.

U.S. military spokesmen in Kabul have declined to confirm reports quoting unidentified Pentagon officials as saying one missing Special Forces soldier was rescued on Saturday after evading militants for five days.

Wafa said he had no information about two other Special Forces soldiers believed to be missing.

U.S. REGRETS

A U.S. military statement said the compound targeted on Friday "was a known operating base for terrorist attacks in Kunar province as well as a base for a medium-level terrorist leader".

"U.S. forces regret the loss of innocent lives and follow stringent rules of engagement specifically to ensure that non-combatants are safeguarded," it said.

"However, when enemy forces move their families into the locations where they conduct terrorist operations, they put these innocent civilians at risk."

Interior Ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal expressed concern. "We have told the coalition in the past to be careful when bombing to make sure civilians don't become targets."

A senior Afghan police officer said U.S. aircraft blasted militant positions in Kunar again on Sunday, but a U.S. spokesman said he had no information about fresh strikes he could report.

The deaths of the Special Forces troops in the helicopter was the single biggest combat blow to U.S. forces in Afghanistan since they overthrow the Taliban in late 2001 and came amid stepped up militant violence ahead of on Sept. 18. elections.

The effect will have been worsened by the fact that U.S. soldiers are still missing over the U.S. July 4 holiday.

The New York Times quoted a senior Pentagon official as saying that he rescued man was a Navy SEAL commando and three others were still missing. The SEALs are an elite force trained to operate behind enemy lines and avoid capture.

The BBC quoted U.S. officials as saying the rescued soldier had reportedly pointed U.S. searchers in the direction where the other soldiers had gone, but the search had been hampered by bad weather and their whereabouts and condition remained unclear.

The U.S. military has said it has no reason to believe the men had been killed or captured -- contrary to Taliban claims.

A Taliban spokesman said last week video of a captured soldier would be provided to news organisations and photographs posted on the Taliban Web site -- www.alemarah.com -- but neither appears to have happened. The site appeared blocked on Monday.

Guerrillas violence continued elsewhere on Monday, when when a roadside bomb killed an Afghan driver and wounded two Turkish engineers between town of Ghazni and Paktika province.

Hundreds have died in militant-related violence since March Afghan officials have reported more than 70 deaths, over half of them of insurgents, in Taliban-related violence in the restive south and east since Wednesday.

(With reporting by Saeed Ali Achakzai)

[Moses]

This is very confusing:


cbsnewyork.com/topstories/topstories_story_185180329.html


Report: Two [of the] Missing Commandos Are Dead


Jul 4, 2005 6:00 pm US/Eastern

A U.S. official has told CBS News that two of the three members of an elite U.S. military team still missing near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border are dead.

The report comes after an Afghan provincial governor claimed that a third member of the four-man team - missing since Tuesday - had been located near the border. U.S. military officials in Washington have denied that, saying there is no information to prove the claim. The governer cited Afghan intelligence sources when he made his announcement.

The fourth missing member of the unit was rescued yesterday. A U.S. military spokesman would only say that American forces were still searching the area for the other three troops.

Kunar Gov. Asadullah Wafa also said a U.S. airstrike last week in the region killed 17 civilians. The American military confirmed civilians died but said the attack was targeting a known terrorist compound.

Citing Afghan intelligence sources, Wafa said the second U.S. service member was believed to be wounded and had taken shelter in a house in a remote part of the region.

"He is in a civilian's house. He is injured," he said. "Afghan soldiers and police are trying to reach the area to rescue him."

U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara declined to comment on the governor's comments, except to say "we hold every hope for those who are still missing."

He said American forces were still in the area searching for the missing men.

But a senior U.S. Defense Department official in Washington said a second service member had not been found. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of ongoing rescue operations.

The small special operations unit was reported missing last Tuesday in mountains in Kunar province, near the border with Pakistan. 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 bombing that killed civilians also was in Kunar and occurred last Friday.

"Seventeen civilians were killed during the bombing, including women and children," Wafa said. He did not say whether any militants also were believed to be in the compound.

The military confirmed that civilians were killed but didn't give a number.

The attack was "with precision-guided munitions that resulted in the deaths of an unknown number of enemy terrorists and noncombatants," the military said in a statement.

"The targeted compound was a known operating base for terrorist attacks in Kunar province as well as a base for a medium-level terrorist leader," it said. "Battle damage assessment is currently ongoing."

The statement added that U.S. forces "regret the loss of innocent lives and follow stringent rules of engagement specifically to ensure that noncombatants are safeguarded. However, when enemy forces move their families into the locations where they conduct terrorist operations, they put these innocent civilians at risk."

The U.S. service member who was rescued from Kunar province was being evaluated Monday, officials said. They have declined to say when the rescue occurred or provide other details, including a reaction to reports that the team consisted of several Navy SEALs.
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.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Afghan soldiers fighting alongside U.S. troops in the mountains 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 AP.

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 thought to have permanent bases there, but that small teams of fighters roam the area.

In a separate development, a joint United Nations-Afghan government electoral commission condemned the killing of a senior pro-government cleric, Mohammed Nabi Misbah, in the southern city of Kandahar on Sunday.

Misbah had been working for the commission in the city ahead of the landmark legislative elections in September, said Bronwyn Curran, a spokeswoman for the organization. Police have blamed the Taliban for the attack.

The killing comes after an unprecedented spate of rebel attacks across Afghanistan that have left about 700 people dead and threatened three years of progress toward peace since the ouster of the Taliban.

[Moses]

Kunar Governor Assadullah Wafa said 17 civilians, including women and children, had been killed in a U.S. airstrike on Friday as part of the effort to find the missing soldiers.

    The U.S. military said on Monday it had killed an "unknown" number of militants and civilians in the strike on a militant compound and regretted the loss of innocent life.

    Government spokesman Jawed Ludin said President Karzai was "saddened and distressed".

    "There is no way, obviously, that the killings of civilians can be justified," Ludin said, adding that the incident showed the need to rethink strategy to target militant leaders, their networks and their support structures.

    "We cannot explain to our own people why they should suffer in our fight against terrorism," he said. "Terrorists are killing them and they are also suffering from our operations -- that's a very sad situation."

www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ISL239671.htm

[Moses]

Taliban says has killed 'captured' U.S. commando[/size]

By Sayed Salahuddin
1 hour, 55 minutes ago




KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban guerrillas said on Saturday they had killed a missing American commando they claimed to have captured in eastern Afghanistan last month, but the U.S. military said it had no information to support the claim.


Elsewhere, a senior pro-government cleric and his wife were stabbed to death by Taliban insurgents in Paktika province and guerrillas captured 11 government soldiers, including a senior commander, in Helmand, government officials said.

Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi said the guerrillas ambushed a convoy near Helmand's Chkore mountains on Friday, killing seven government troops and capturing six, but it was not known if the incidents were the same.

Hakimi said the U.S. commando was killed at 11 a.m. (0630 GMT) on Saturday and his body dumped on a mountain in the eastern province of Kunar, where a four-man Navy SEAL team went missing during a clash with militants June 28.

"We killed him using a knife and chopped off his head," he said by satellite telephone from an undisclosed location.

The U.S. military has said two of the missing commandos were found dead on Monday, having been killed in action, while another had been rescued and one was missing.

It has said it has no information to suggest the missing man had been captured.

Asked about the Taliban claim that the man had been killed, U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Jerry O'Hara said he had no information to support it, but the military was looking into the report.

"We are still conducting a search hoping our missing service member is alive as we have no proof telling us otherwise," he said.

A U.S. helicopter sent to aid the SEAL team was shot down, killing all 16 troops aboard, the heaviest losses for U.S. forces in a single combat operation since they overthrew the Taliban in 2001.

Hakimi's information has often proven unreliable in the past, but he has appeared well informed about events surrounding the helicopter crash.

BODY SAID LEFT ON MOUNTAIN

He said the body of the commando had been left on the top of a mountain in Kunar province's Shegal district. "He is wearing red clothes," he said. "We got the information we wanted from him during the interrogation."

Hakimi had said earlier on Saturday that the man the guerrillas claimed to be holding was a commando officer and would be killed in two or three days following his interrogation.

The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press news agency also quoted a guerrilla commander in Kunar, Mohammad Ismail, as saying that the commando had been killed. It quoted Hakimi as saying the killing followed a decision by the Taliban's religious leaders.

Hundreds of U.S. soldiers, backed by Afghan troops and helicopters, have been searching for the missing commando.

Navy SEALs are trained to operate behind enemy lines and the rescued commando evaded militants for five days.

The U.S. military has said the search, involving more than 300 U.S. troops backed by aircraft and Afghan forces, has been hampered by rugged, wooded terrain and cloudy weather.

The Taliban have never before captured, or claimed to have captured, a U.S. soldier and President Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said it was a top priority to find the missing man.

U.S. media have said the loss of eight Navy SEALs aboard the helicopter and the two on the ground, were the heaviest ever losses in a combat operation for the 2,400-strong elite force.

The losses, which have made 2005 the bloodiest year for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, have come amid stepped up militant violence ahead of Sept. 18 parliamentary elections, the next big step in Afghanistan's difficult path to stability.

On Friday, 11 government troops, including their commander Abdul Zahir, were captured by the Taliban guerrillas after two hours of fighting in Deshu district in the southern province of Helmand, government commander Mohammad Rasool said.

Also on Friday, guerrillas killed a senior pro-government cleric in the southeastern province of Paktika, the third such killing in just over a month, provincial Governor Gulabuddin Mangal told Reuters.

Agha Jan, the senior Islamic cleric in the southeastern province of Paktika, was stabbed to death along with his wife at his home on Friday evening, he said.

(Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Kabul, Kamal Sadaat in KHOST and Saeed Ali Achakzai in SPIN BOLDAK)

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Copyright © 2005 Reuters Limited.

Copyright © 2005 Yahoo! Inc.

[Moses]

Mourning the loss of Navy SEALs
The Virginian-Pilot
© July 6, 2005
Last updated: 7:37 PM


This wasn’t the Independence Day holiday weekend we had hoped for. Not because pewter skies robbed some of the sizzle from fireworks, parades and backyard barbecues.

It was that our mundane weekends played out against the heroics of five local Navy SEALs who died trying to rescue four comrades doing reconnaissance in an Afghan no-man’s land. Of those four, two are dead, one is injured and one unaccounted for. They have yet to be identified.

The contrast between the celebrations at home and the sacrifices abroad draped the weekend with an unexpected double meaning about what it takes — and what some are anonymously willing to give — to be an American.

So far, we know that a helicopter carrying eight SEALs and eight Army Special Forces was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade before they could make the rescue. Among the dead are five sailors from SEAL Team 10 based at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base: Chief Petty Officer Jacques J. Fontan; Lt. Cmdr. Erik Kristensen; Petty Officer 1st Class Jeffrey Lucas; Lt. Michael McGreevy; and Petty Officer 1st Class Jeffrey Taylor.

This brings to 10 the number of locally based SEALs who have died fighting the Taliban, an enormous loss to a Navy community numbering no more than a thousand. More devastating is the loss to their families. Four of the five leave behind widows and three had children.

It is stunning in its own way to those of us who live on the periphery of their lives. We see them tend their lawns, kneel beside their families in church, applaud their kids at school programs and joke with friends over a beer on the backyard deck. The death of such seemingly ordinary men in extraordinary circumstances unleashes its own kind of disorienting shock.

We have no concept of the double life led by SEALs and the military’s special warfare units except when a tragedy like this one gives us a tiny window into the threatening world they inhabit.

So secret are their missions that the public is rarely given a chance to celebrate their victories or show appreciation for their invisible service to the nation.

That’s more reason to mourn their loss .


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