2nd US sailor's body recovered in Afghanistan

By Amir Shah And Deb Riechmann, Associated Press Writers –

July 29, 2010

KABUL, Afghanistan –

A second U.S. Navy sailor who went missing in a dangerous part of eastern Afghanistan was found dead and his body recovered, a senior U.S. military official and Afghani officials said Thursday.

The family of Petty Officer 3rd Class Jarod Newlove, a 25-year-old from the Seattle area, had been notified of his death, the U.S. military official said on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorized to disclose the information.

Newlove and Petty Officer 2nd Class Justin McNeley went missing last Friday in Logar province. NATO recovered the body of McNeley — a 30-year-old father of two from Wheatridge, Colorado — in the area Sunday.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told The Associated Press in Kabul on Thursday that two days ago the Taliban left the "body of a dead American soldier for the U.S. forces" to recover. The Taliban said McNeley was killed in a firefight and insurgents had captured Newlove. Mujahid offered no explanation for Newlove's death.

NATO officials have not offered an explanation as to why the two service members were in such a dangerous part of eastern Afghanistan.

The sailors were instructors at a counterinsurgency school for Afghani security forces, according to senior military officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case. The school was headquartered in Kabul and had classrooms outside the capital, but they were never assigned anywhere near where McNeley's body was recovered, officials said.

The chief of police of Logar province, Gen. Mustafa Mosseini, said coalition troops removed Newlove's body about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. An anti-terrorism official in Logar province, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the case, also said coalition forces had recovered a body.

Mosseini said he believed the body washed downstream after rains Tuesday night.

He noted in the past several days, the Taliban were being pressured by coalition forces in the area.

"The security was being tightened," Mosseini said. "Searches continued from both air and the ground. Militants were moving into Pakistan."

Mohammad Rahim Amin, the local government chief in Baraki Barak district, also said coalition forces recovered a body about 5:30 p.m. and flew it by helicopter to a coalition base in Logar province, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) away.

"The coalition told our criminal police director of the district that the body belonged to the foreign soldier they were looking for," Amin said.

Italian soldiers killed in Afghanistan had been defusing IEDs

By the CNN Wire Staff July 29, 2010, 6:06 a.m. EDT

The two Italian soldiers killed in Afghanistan had been defusing IEDs Both were experts in bomb disposal and had years of combat experience

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) --

The two Italian soldiers who died this week in Afghanistan were defusing an explosive device near the western city of Herat when they were killed, the Italian Defense Ministry said.

The soldiers, who were 41 and 33, were experts in defusing such devices and had been part of an IEDD (Improvised Explosive Device Disposal) team, the ministry said. Both had years of experience in combat zones.

The two soldiers, who were not named, went to the IED site after a tip-off from Afghan police. They succeeded in neutralizing one device, but as they went to check the area for others, an explosion went off and both were killed, the ministry said.

They had gone to the site in an armored vehicle with other Italian soldiers, one of whom was wounded in the explosion.

Bomb Kills 25 on Afghanistan Bus

The bus, whose passengers included women and children, was traveling on a main road in Nimruz province, bound for the capital, Kabul, when it struck the buried bomb; 20 people were injured.

By Laura King, Los Angeles Times
July 29, 2010

Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan —

A bomb blast tore through a crowded passenger bus Wednesday on a desert highway in southern Afghanistan, killing 25 of those on board and injuring about 20 others, some seriously, government officials said. All were said to be civilians.

About 7,000 Afghan civilians were killed by bombs from 2004 to '09, according to classified military documents posted on the Internet this week by the advocacy group WikiLeaks.

The bus, whose passengers included women and children, was traveling on a main road in Nimruz province, bound for the capital, Kabul, when it struck the buried bomb. Many Afghans cannot afford cars and are reliant on poorly maintained, jampacked passenger buses and minivans, especially for travel between major cities.

The district chief in Delaram, where the blast took place, said the road was one of the most bomb-laden in the country. He said Afghan authorities had already decided a police checkpoint was needed in the area, but were still awaiting police to staff it.