thedrifter
07-10-05, 10:43 AM
Navy SEAL beheaded, phone call claims
July 10, 2005
BY NOOR KHAN
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- A purported Taliban spokesman said Saturday that the group has beheaded a missing American commando, but he offered no proof and the U.S. military said it was still searching for the Navy SEAL.
The commando is the last of a four-member elite team missing since June 28 in Kunar, near the Pakistani border. One of the men was rescued and the other two were found dead.
"This morning in Shagal district in Kunar province, the Taliban killed the American soldier and cut his head off," Mullah Latif Hakimi, the purported spokesman, said in a phone call. "We left the body on a mountainside in this area so Afghan or U.S. soldiers there can find it."
Hakimi repeatedly has said the rebels were holding the commando. But information from him in the past has frequently proved exaggerated or untrue, and his exact tie to the Taliban leadership cannot be independently verified.
U.S. says there's no proof
U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara said the search for the commando continued.
"The only proof we have is that he is missing,'' he said. "We will run down these reports to see if anything pans out.''
About 300 troops and several aircraft have been searching for the U.S. Navy SEAL in the rugged mountains in eastern Afghanistan, the military has said.
When asked for evidence of the commando's death, Hakimi said, "the proof will be when the Americans find his body."
Hakimi said earlier in the week that the rebels would release a video, but he made no mention of that Saturday.
The Navy SEAL team went missing after a Special Forces helicopter carrying reinforcements to the mountainous area was shot down, killing all 16 Americans on board, the deadliest single attack on the U.S. military since the war here began in 2001. The 16 on the helicopter were responding to a call for help from the four SEAL commandos on reconnaissance in the mountains who were attacked by militants.
AP
Ellie
July 10, 2005
BY NOOR KHAN
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- A purported Taliban spokesman said Saturday that the group has beheaded a missing American commando, but he offered no proof and the U.S. military said it was still searching for the Navy SEAL.
The commando is the last of a four-member elite team missing since June 28 in Kunar, near the Pakistani border. One of the men was rescued and the other two were found dead.
"This morning in Shagal district in Kunar province, the Taliban killed the American soldier and cut his head off," Mullah Latif Hakimi, the purported spokesman, said in a phone call. "We left the body on a mountainside in this area so Afghan or U.S. soldiers there can find it."
Hakimi repeatedly has said the rebels were holding the commando. But information from him in the past has frequently proved exaggerated or untrue, and his exact tie to the Taliban leadership cannot be independently verified.
U.S. says there's no proof
U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara said the search for the commando continued.
"The only proof we have is that he is missing,'' he said. "We will run down these reports to see if anything pans out.''
About 300 troops and several aircraft have been searching for the U.S. Navy SEAL in the rugged mountains in eastern Afghanistan, the military has said.
When asked for evidence of the commando's death, Hakimi said, "the proof will be when the Americans find his body."
Hakimi said earlier in the week that the rebels would release a video, but he made no mention of that Saturday.
The Navy SEAL team went missing after a Special Forces helicopter carrying reinforcements to the mountainous area was shot down, killing all 16 Americans on board, the deadliest single attack on the U.S. military since the war here began in 2001. The 16 on the helicopter were responding to a call for help from the four SEAL commandos on reconnaissance in the mountains who were attacked by militants.
AP
Ellie