25 troops injured in search for 2 U.S. soldiers

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By Amir Shah ASSOCIATED PRESS

KABUL, Afghanistan | Two American soldiers disappeared in western Afghanistan after a routine resupply mission, and more than 25 NATO and Afghan security forces members were wounded during the search mission for them, the alliance said Friday.

Officials indicated it was unlikely the two missing had been taken captive. A Taliban spokesman, Qare Yousuf, told Reuters news agency by telephone that the soldiers had drowned and the Islamist militants had recovered their bodies.

NATO force's headquarters in Afghanistan said the two paratroopers from the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, went missing Wednesday.

During the search operation to locate them, more than 25 NATO and Afghan national security forces members were wounded, said Lt. Col. Todd Breasseale, a NATO spokesman.

"Initial reports indicate they were wounded due to insurgent activity," Col. Breasseale said.

Local police said the two were Americans who were swept away by a river in the western province of Badghis. The chief of police in Badghis province, Abdul Jabar, said NATO aircraft had struck their own troops during the search for the missing soldiers and that several Americans had died in the "friendly fire" air strike, Reuters reported.

Western regional police chief Gen. Ikram Uddin Yawar said two American soldiers were swept away by a river while trying to save two boxes that had fallen into the water while being airdropped during a resupply mission in the Bala Murghab district of Badghis province.

Mr. Jabar said a helicopter had airdropped food parcels at a coalition base, but that strong winds had blown one box into the river and that two soldiers had been swept away by strong currents while trying to recover the parcel. He said Afghan police had been helping coalition forces in the search Thursday and Friday but had been unable to find the two soldiers.

NATO could not confirm whether the missing paratroopers had been swept away by a river.

Military officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to command policy, indicated that they did not suspect the case was similar to that of an American soldier who was captured by insurgents in eastern Afghanistan on June 30.

Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, 23, who disappeared near Afghanistan's border with Pakistan, has not been found. He was shown as a Taliban captive in a propaganda video in July.

Separately on Friday, NATO said two American service members were killed Thursday by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan.

The deaths bring to three the number of U.S. service members killed in the Afghan war so far this month. October was the deadliest month of the eight-year war for U.S. forces, with 59 deaths reported.