A US Special Forces soldier and 10-year veteran of the West Virginia National Guard was killed in eastern Afghanistan during a skirmish with forces believed linked to al-Qaida and the deposed Taliban militia, military officials said.
Sgt. Gene Arden Vance Jr. (38) was killed on Sunday afternoon when his unit came under heavy fire, said Capt. Steven O’Connor, a US military representative at Bagram air base north of Kabul. He had been stationed in the Middle East for five months, the military said.
There were no other reports of coalition casualties in the firefight, which started when suspected al-Qaida or Taliban fighters engaged US forces with at least small arms fire at about 5 pm local time, O’Connor said.
It was not immediately clear whether there were casualties on the opposing side. The mountainous area of eastern Afghanistan near Khost has for months been a suspected hideout for Taliban and al-Qaida fighters who the US-led coalition believes are trying to regroup.
Vance, of Morgantown, W.Va., was in the 19th Special Forces Unit of the West Virginia National Guard, said representative Maj. Mike Cadle. He had been in the National Guard for 10 years and leaves behind a wife and daughter.
In West Virginia, the state’s adjutant general, Allen Tackett, said Vance’s wife was out of town Sunday night.
Small teams of US special forces and other coalition soldiers are operating throughout eastern Afghanistan, conducting search operations for Taliban and al-Qaida members.
Some 1 000 British-led troops launched the sweep through mountains near the city of Khost on Friday, saying they believed a ”significant number” of fighters were there after an Australian patrol was attacked the day before.
The US military said there were about 100 enemy fighters in the area.
The Australians came under heavy fire there for five hours, until calling in strikes by American A130 gunships, which killed 10 people who the coalition said were Taliban and al-Qaida fighters.
Lt. Col. Ben Curry, a British military representative, said on Sunday that coalition troops had searched half the area targeted by the sweep, named Operation Condor, but encountered no opposition fighters.
A small amount of ammunition was found, including two 120 mm rockets and a few cases of 12,7 mm ammunition, Curry said at Bagram.
An Afghan tribe whose fighters were killed in Thursday’s A130 strike disputed the coalition account of the fighting there. A delegation from the tribe discussed the bombing with US officers on Saturday at Khost airport, where American special forces are based.
Members of the Sabari tribe said their fighters were skirmishing with the Balkhiel tribe in a dispute over a stand of trees near their villages 30 miles north of Khost when the bombs fell. Sabari elders denied firing on the Australians or the US aircraft or having links to al-Qaida or the deposed Taliban militia.
However, a US military representative, Maj. Bryan Hilferty, said on Sunday he had ”no reason to believe” the tribe’s account. ”They were shooting heavy machine gun and mortars at us. That is known al-Qaida and Taliban area,” he said.
Coalition forces had observed the area for several days and believed it was being used as a transit point by al-Qaida and Taliban members, Hilferty said.
At Bagram, British forces said three more soldiers suffering from the ”winter vomiting” bug – officially known as Norwalk-like virus after the Ohio town where it was first identified – would be evacuated to Britain Sunday.
Eight others already have been evacuated – seven to Britain and one to a US military hospital in Germany. Some 333 British troops were under quarantine, but that was lifted Sunday after the military said no more cases were found in the past 48 hours.
British defence officials in London identified the illness on Saturday. – Sapa-AP