KABUL - Two members of an American special forces team missing in eastern Afghanistan for several days are dead, the US military said Tuesday, confirming earlier media reports.
A US military statement said the bodies of two members of a missing four-strong Navy SEAL team had been found during search operations on Monday.
A third member of the team was earlier confirmed to be alive and well in a US military hospital, while the fourth remained unaccounted for.
"Coalition forces located the bodies of two US service members during a combat search and rescue operation July 4 in Kunar province," the military statement said.
"The service members whereabouts had been unknown since June 28. They were part of a force conducting counter-terrorism operations in Kunar," the statement said.
A helicopter sent to reinforce that team last Tuesday was shot down by what the military believed to be a rocket propelled grenade, killing all 16 navy SEAL commandos and army aviation specialists aboard.
"The two service members were taken to the US military hospital at Bagram Airfield where they were pronounced dead. Their names are being withheld until notification of their next-of-kin," the US military statement said.
"Another member of the force was located and airlifted to the Bagram hospital with non-life-threatening injuries," it said.
"The whereabouts of one service member remains unknown," the statement added.
The downing of the US helicopter was the first by hostile fire in Afghanistan and the biggest toll for US forces from a single attack since the hardline Islamic Taliban regime was toppled by US and other forces in late 2001.
The ousted Taliban claimed responsibility for the helicopter attack in the rebel-infested province near the Pakistan border.
After the helicopter went down, the US military said it was conducting a search operation for the missing commandos.
07/05/2005 15:27 GMT