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| Body of U.S. Commando Found in Afghanistan |
| Monday, July 11, 2005 |
KABUL, Afghanistan - The body of a missing U.S. commando has been located in eastern Afghanistan, the military said Monday, bringing an end to the desperate search for the last member of an ill-fated, four-man special forces unit that disappeared last month.
One of the four men was rescued on July 3; the other two were found dead the next day.
The body of the fourth U.S. Navy SEAL was found Sunday in Kunar province by a search and rescue team, the military said in a statement. It said all indications are that he died in fighting, despite a claim by Mullah Latif Hakimi, a purported Taliban spokesman, that he was captured alive and beheaded.
"The location and disposition of the service member's remains indicate he died while fighting off enemy terrorists on or about June 28," the statement said.
U.S. military spokesman Col. James Yonts repeatedly denied Hakimi's claims.
"There have been claims of being dropped on a mountain wearing red clothes, there have been claims of being beheaded," he said. But "there was no indication supporting the claims. ... This individual was never in custody, he was never defamed or disgraced."
He said the injuries on the commando's body were consistent with "a firefight, a combat operation with smalls arms fire, RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) rounds."
Yonts said the commando's body was found near the chopper crash site in an area "that we had looked over before, but where his body was located was hard to find."
The name of the commando was not immediately released, pending notification of family. |
posted by Jay Are @ 8:38:00 AM   |
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