LOGAR, Afghanistan -- U.S. and Afghan forces have launched search and rescue operation for two US soldiers who went missing in Logar province south of Afghan capital Kabul on Friday, an official said Sunday. Spokesman for provincial administration Deen Mohammad Darvesh told Xinhua that three Taliban rebels were injured and one military vehicle was destroyed during the operation Sunday night in Tingraph village of Charkh district where the two U.S. soldiers went missing. NATO-led international security assistance force (ISAF) on Sunday confirmed that Afghan and allied forces raided Mollakay village in Charkh district and the neighboring Kharwar district and detained two suspected insurgents. A Taliban spokesman called Zabihullah Mujahid told media by phone from undisclosed locations that the Taliban fighters had killed one US soldier and held the other in a secret place. Both the dead soldier and the alive one have been kept in a secret location awaiting the decision of Taliban leadership on how to deal with them, Mujahid said. ISAF has offered a 20,000 U.S. dollars reward for information leading to the release of the two U.S. soldiers who were reportedly engaged in a shootout with Taliban rebels after driving out of their Kabul base.
