A small group of American soldiers are reported as missing in eastern Afghanistan in the same mountainous area where the MH-47 Chinook helicopter that was shot down on Tuesday. The Chinook was apparently looking for the missing soldiers when it was engaged by enemy forces and shot down.
Latif Hakimi, who claimed to be a spokesman for the Taliban, said that the group had captured an American G.I. near the town of Asadabad, close to the Afghani border with Pakistan.
Hakimi told the Associated Press, 'One high-ranking American has been captured in fighting in the same area as the helicopter went down. I won't give you any more details now.'
Lieutenant Colonel Jerry O'Hara, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Afghanistan would not confirm the capture of any American soldier. 'We have no proof or evidence indicating anything other than the soldiers are missing,' O'Hara announced. 'Until we find our guys, they are still listed as unaccounted for and everything we got in that area is oriented on finding the missing men,' he said.
Meanwhile, investigators are continuing to search the wreckage of the downed Chinook helicopter which military officials now believe was shot down by an unguided rocket-propelled grenade.
Speaking from the Pentagon, Lieutenant General James Conway called the downing of the Chinook, 'a pretty lucky shot against a helicopter.' He also indicated that the troops on board the helicopter most likely died in the crash and were not involved in any fighting after their vehicle went down.
The military has yet to release the identity of the 16 soldiers killed in the helicopter crash. Today, in a statement, the military indicated that they were members of the following units: seven soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia, one from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and eight Navy SEALs assigned to units in Norfolk, Virginia, and San Diego, California.
'The remains are being identified. The service members' names will be released once their next-of-kin have been notified,' the statement said.
