Marines say 1 killed in new Afghanistan offensive

AP, July 2, 2009
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. –

The Marine Corps says one Marine has been killed in fighting in southern Afghanistan during a major offensive against Taliban fighters.

Capt. William Pelletier said the Marine died Thursday during the fighting along the Helmand River valley. The victim wasn't immediately identified.

Pelletier also said several others were injured or wounded but didn't have numbers.
The Marines said about 4,000 troops, many from Camp Lejeune, N.C., were involved in the offensive.

Taliban Fighters Capture American Soldier

Jul 2, 2009 8:00 am US/Pacific

CBS News -

U.S. Launches Major New Attack On Taliban; Military Confirms One Serviceman Missing For 3 Days, Taliban Fighters Say They May Consider Prisoner Swap

A Taliban commander told CBS News' Sami Yousafzai Thursday that militants had captured one U.S. soldier and three Afghan nationals in Paktika province, near the Pakistani border.

A U.S. military spokesperson in Kabul confirms that one soldier has been missing in Afghanistan since June 30.

Cpt. Elizabeth Mathias told CBS News Thursday, "a U.S. serviceman has been missing in Afghanistan since 30th June, it's believed the service person is being held by insurgents."

The Taliban commander, who spoke to Yousafzai via satellite telephone from the region, said a group of Taliban fighters cornered the American soldier and his Afghan counterparts near a U.S. military base and took them hostage.

He said the captives' fate would be decided by Taliban leaders, but that the Islamic extremist group would consider a prisoner swap.

"The case will be referred to Sirajuddin Haqqani (senior Taliban commander in Afghanistan) and other Taliban top leadership. They have to decide the future of the U.S. soldier, but we would not mind a prisoner exchange in this case," the commander told CBS News.

Paktika province sits along Afghanistan's eastern border with Pakistan. The kidnapping comes just as some 4,000 U.S. Marines begin a massive offensive operation in the southern Helmand province to clear the Taliban stronghold of militants.

No further information was provided by the military on the identity of the soldier who is missing, or where the individual was based.

According to information on GlobalSecurity.org, the U.S. military operates a Forward Operating Base in Paktika called Orgun-E, which "dramatically expanded in size" in recent years.

Prior to the expansion, the base was home to about 400 U.S. soldiers in 2003, according to GlobalSecurity.org. Orgun-E is said to be one of about a half-dozen such Forward Operating Bases maintained by the U.S. military along Afghanistan's mountainous eastern border with Pakistan.

A senior Taliban commander later publically claimed responsibility for the kidnapping in statements to other media. CBS News' Khaled Wassef reports that the commander, Mullah Sangeen Zadran, is known to be affiliated with the group's commander in Afghanistan, Haqqani. Zadran is thought to be in charge of Paktika province.

Wassef reports that Zadran was reportedly targeted in two U.S. drone attacks in Pakistan's tribal areas last month. Some reports released on June 24 suggested that he had been killed during a missile attack targeting a group of Taliban commanders, including the head of the group's Pakistan branch Baitullah Mehsud, as they attended a funeral in South Waziristan.

Zardan denied reports of his death in the attack in telephone calls with a number of news agencies. He told Pakistani paper, The News, that he neither travelled to South Waziristan to attend the funeral nor suffered any harm. He added that he would soon issue a video statement to prove that he was safe.