Taliban claims to have bodies of 2 U.S. soldiers

HERAT, Afghanistan - Two U.S. soldiers transporting supplies in Afghanistan were swept away by a river in Badghis province, a local official said Friday, and the Taliban said they were holding their bodies.

Western regional police Chief Gen. Ikram Uddin Yawar said two American soldiers were swept away while trying to save two boxes that had fallen into the water while being airdropped during a resupply mission.

A Taliban spokesman, Qare Yousuf, told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location that they had recovered the bodies of the drowned soldiers on Wednesday.

NATO forces headquarters in Afghanistan said two paratroopers from the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, went missing on 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," Breasseale said.

He could not say how many of the wounded were Afghan and how many were NATO, nor was the nationality of the NATO soldiers released.

U.S. Navy Captain Jane Campbell, a press officer for the NATO-led force, said "the families of these service members have been notified about their loved ones' status, and we will continue to keep them informed as information becomes available."

Troops from more than 40 nations are members of the nearly 110,000-strong NATO-led force, two-thirds of them American. The biggest contingents operating in the west of the country are from the United States and Italy.

Reports of missing troops in Afghanistan are extremely rare. A U.S. soldier has been missing in the south since late June. He was shown as a Taliban captive in a propaganda video in July. U.S. military officials have said little about the search for 23-year-old Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl for safety reasons, and it is unclear whether he is being held in Afghanistan or Pakistan.

Separately Friday, NATO said two American service members were killed Thursday by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan. The statement gave no further details.

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.

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