Taliban says US soldier captured in ambush

The Afghan Taliban said Sunday that one of two US soldiers missing since Friday had been killed in a gun battle with insurgents, while the other was captured alive.

"One of the two was killed in the exchange of fire, and we arrested the second alive," said Zabihullah Mujahid, after earlier denying the Taliban were involved in the disappearance of the pair in eastern Logar Province.

"We have taken both the body and the captured soldier with us, and they have been carried to a safe location. We claim responsibility for it now," he told AFP. "We have not made any decisions on their fate or what we will demand for their release. That is a decision to be made later."

Local officials said the Americans were wearing uniforms, though their vehicle was believed to be an unmarked, armored four-wheel-drive.

It was recovered Saturday "a bit off where it should have been," another official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Mujahid said the pair had been attacked after arriving in Charkh district, in the south of the volatile province, just south of Kabul.

"Our mujahideen attacked them," he added, echoing earlier reports from local officials that they had been ambushed.

An ISAF official said no information had been received.

"There is no confirmation that they are dead or have been kidnapped," he told AFP on condition of anonymity. "There are rumors that one of them is dead."

AFP