Navy Seal's body found after failed Afghan mission

The body of a US Navy Seal commando has been located in eastern Afghanistan, bringing to an end an ill-fated mission that has cost the lives of 19 special forces troops and at least 17 civilians in the rugged and inhospitable mountain region that straddles the border with Pakistan.

The US military rejected claims by a Taliban spokesman that the commando - the last of a four-man team that went missing more than two weeks ago - had been captured and beheaded. A military spokesman said all indications were that he had been killed in a clash with militants in the Kuranwal valley in Kunar province on the day the team went missing.

"This individual was never in custody, he was never defamed or disgraced," the spokesman said. "The location and disposition of the service member's remains indicate he died while fighting off enemy terrorists."

Two other members of the team were found dead last week, while a fourth managed to evade enemy forces and escape with the help of Afghan villagers.

According to unconfirmed reports yesterday the surviving commando, who has not been named, was wounded in the leg but was able to scramble between three and four kilometres across the mountainous terrain before he was found by a friendly tribal elder. He was taken back to the man's village and hidden from Taliban forces who were scouring the area looking for him.

The commando wrote a note giving his name and location on a piece of paper which was then smuggled across the mountains by one of the villagers and given to a US soldier. A successful rescue was mounted, and the commando was flown to Germany for medical treatment.

But despite his escape, the mission itself was a disaster, leading to the worst combat losses in Afghanistan since the invasion in 2001. A Chinook helicopter sent to find the men was shot down, killing all 16 special forces soldiers on board, while Afghan officials said at least 17 civilians died after an air strike by a B-52 bomber on a village US forces claimed was the base for a known militia commander.

The rescue began on June 28 when the four-man reconnaissance team found itself trapped under heavy fire by a large force of fighters. The battle turned into a running retreat, with the unit apparently discarding their rucksacks and other equipment as they tried to flee.

They were able to send a distress signal requesting immediate extraction. Two slow-moving Chinooks with commandos on board were sent in during daylight hours to attempt a rescue.

"When we've got four Seals on the ground, four brothers who say, 'We're under fire, we've been shot, we need help now,' we can't wait for the night," Rear Admiral Joseph Maguire, head of the Naval Special Warfare Command, told the New York Times.

One of the helicopters was struck by what is believed to have been a lucky shot with a rocket propelled grenade fired from the cover of trees, and crashed into a deep ravine, killing all 16 on board. The other helicopter diverted to a landing zone several miles away, and the four-man Seal team was left to fend for itself.

The US military struck back two days later when it bombed a village in Kunar province killing at least 17 civilians, including women and children, according to the local governor. A statement from US forces said the village was a known operating base for terrorist attacks and while it regretted the loss of innocent lives, "when enemy forces move their families into the locations where they conduct terrorist operations, they put these innocent civilians at risk".

The bombing drew a rare rebuke from President Hamid Karzai, who said such casualties could erode civilian support for the coalition.

It now appears that three of the team the Chinook had been sent to extract were already dead, including its leader, Lieutenant Michael Murphy, 29, and Petty Officer Danny Dietz, 25, whose bodies were recovered on July 4.

A major search was under way in Afghanistan yesterday after it emerged that militants from Syria, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Libya had escaped from Bagram air base. A US military spokesman described the men as "dangerous enemy combatants".

The men were reported missing at about 5am local time, and according to reports dozens of US troops could be seen stopping and searching vehicles every few hundred metres around the base, while helicopters flew overhead.

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