KABUL, July 4: A US air strike in eastern Afghanistan last week killed 17 civilians, including women and children, a governor said on Monday as the search continued for the missing comrades of a rescued US soldier. The Afghans were killed when US warplanes bombed a suspected militant hideout at Chichal village in troubled Kunar province late on Friday amid the search for the small team of elite US soldiers, the provincial governor said.

The US squad has been missing since June 28, when rebels shot down a helicopter sent to extract them, killing all 16 on board. One team member was rescued on Saturday but three remain unaccounted for, the television network CNN said.

“Seventeen civilians died in the US bombing of the village,” Kunar governor Assadullah Wafa said. “There are a number of children and women among the victims but I don’t have the exact figure right now.”

The US military was not immediately available to comment on the casualty figures given by the provincial governor and earlier cancelled a regular news briefing scheduled for Monday.

US spokesman Colonel James Yonts said at the weekend that “all possible efforts are taken to prevent non-combatant injuries and deaths.” But he did not exclude the possibility civilians had been struck in the bombing.

Taliban who claimed responsibility for shooting down the MH-47 Chinook helicopter last week, said on Saturday that US bombing had killed 25 civilians, including children.

US forces are currently maintaining a wall of silence due to the sensitivity of the search operation, which is taking place alongside an ongoing US-Afghan mission to track down insurgents in Kunar.

“We have not concluded this operation. It is still going on and it will go on until we achieve our mission which is to defeat any terrorists in that area and to deny them sanctuary in Kunar province,” Col Yonts said.

TWO SOLDIERS DEAD: Two members of an American special forces team missing in Afghanistan for several days are dead, the BBC said on Monday.

The BBC cited a ‘well-placed American government source’ who called the soldiers’ deaths a ‘terrible tragedy’.

Another member of the special forces team had been rescued but the whereabouts of a fourth member remained unclear, the BBC said.

Afghanistan’s private Tolo television station, citing unnamed sources, reported earlier on Monday that US officials were saying a second soldier from the missing team had been rescued.

The US military would only confirm that one soldier had been rescued and was alive.

“Coalition forces have located a US service member whose whereabouts had been unknown since June 28. He has been taken to Bagram airfield for medical treatment. The service member is reported in stable condition,” said a statement from the combined forces command in Kabul. —AFP