An extensive ground and air search was under way yesterday for two US soldiers who went missing in Taliban territory in Afghanistan, military officials said, amid fears one of them had been killed.
Nothing had been heard of the two, an official from NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.
“They are still missing, we have had no contact with anybody so far, so we cannot confirm what has happened to them,” said the official, who asked not to be identified.
“There is no confirmation that they are dead or have been kidnapped,” he said, adding: “There are rumors that one of them is dead.”
Another ISAF official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said earlier there were reports one of the pair had been killed and his body removed from the scene, in eastern Logar Province where the Taliban have a solid presence.
US media reports suggested the two may have left their base, in Charkh district, without permission.
They had been missing since about 8pm on Friday and their car had been recovered in an area where it should not have been, the officials said.
Local radio stations in Logar, south of Kabul, broadcast descriptions of the pair and offered rewards of US$10,000 for information leading to the safe recovery of each man, a correspondent in the province said.
An ISAF statement issued almost 24 hours after the pair disappeared said they had left their compound late on Friday “and did not return.”
“Nobody has been found, but there are reports that there may be a casualty and that the body has been removed from the scene,” one of the ISAF officials said.
All reports were unsubstantiated, he added.
A Taliban spokesman denied the insurgents were behind the disappearance of the soldiers, though earlier he had contacted media outlets with detailed descriptions of the soldiers and the equipment they were carrying.
Speaking by telephone from an undisclosed location, the Taliban’s eastern Afghanistan spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said: “So far, we are not aware of it and cannot confirm this.”
A spokesman for Logar’s provincial governor said the two soldiers left their base in Charkh district late on Friday “and went to opposition territory.”
“One of them has been killed and the other has been detained by the opposition,” Din Mohammed Darwaish said, referring to the Taliban.
The BBC quoted Darwaish as saying the pair had been warned not to venture into what was known Taliban territory and had found themselves in a gun battle with insurgents, after which they were captured.
Kidnappings of foreign soldiers are rare in Afghanistan, where a nine-year insurgency has been escalating in recent months, particularly in the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar.
Most kidnappings in recent years have been by criminals for ransom, though targets identified as high value have in the past been sold on to insurgent groups, who then use them as political pawns.
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