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General News
11/6/2009 6:04 PM ET
(RTTNews) -
The NATO-led international forces in Afghanistan said Friday that over 25 coalition and Afghan troops have been injured while conducting search and rescue operations for the two missing U.S. soldiers in west of the war-torn country.
"During a joint operation in western Afghanistan today, initial reports indicate more than 25 ISAF and Afghan National Security Force members were wounded. Members of the joint force were searching for two missing US Army soldiers," ISAF said in a statement.
It said that the wounded soldiers were "initially treated on the scene and subsequently flown to an ISAF medical facility for further treatment," but did not specify the circumstances leading to the incident.
"We are committed to taking every measure possible to rescue or recover our missing service members. We continue to do everything we can to find them," the statement added.
Earlier in the day, the NATO forces headquarters in Afghanistan said in a statement that the two missing American soldiers were paratroopers from the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division.
It added that the two soldiers are missing since Wednesday after they failed to return from a routine resupply mission in west of the war-torn country, but did not name the province where they went missing.
Separately, Afghan military officials said they believed that the two missing U.S. soldiers had drowned while trying to recover some logistical packages from a river, where a NATO aircraft had accidentally air-dropped them. They added that efforts are continuing to recover their bodies from the river.
Also, some local reports quoted Taliban fighters in the area saying on Friday that they have recovered the bodies of the two U.S. soldiers from the river. But the U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan are yet to confirm their claim.
Presently, there are some 110,000 foreign troops from more than 42 countries in Afghanistan under the commands of the NATO and the United States fighting Taliban insurgents with the U.S. topping the list with about 62,000 troops.
by RTT Staff Writer
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