Associated Press
BAGRAM, Afghanistan — A U.S. special forces soldier was killed while on patrol in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday when his unit came under heavy fire, a U.S. military spokesman said.
There were no other reports of coalition casualties in the firefight, which started when suspected al-Qaida or Taliban forces engaged U.S. forces with at least small arms fire late Sunday afternoon, said Capt. Steven O’Connor, a U.S. military spokesman at Bagram air base.
Sgt. Gene Arden Vance Jr., 38, of Morgantown, W.Va., was in the 19th Special Forces Unit of the West Virginia National Guard.
It was unclear whether there were any casualties on the opposing side.
Small teams of U.S. special forces and other coalition soldiers are operating throughout eastern Afghanistan, conducting search operations for Taliban and al-Qaida members.
Sunday’s casualty brings to 22 the total number of American military killed in action since the start of Operation Enduring Freedom last fall.
In related developments:
About 50 Green Beret trainers from Fort Carson, Colo., landed in Tbilisi, Georgia, on Sunday, adding the ex-Soviet republic to the list of countries where U.S. troops have deployed in the 8-month-old counterterror campaign. The Pentagon has said the training will help the Georgian army "address the situation in the Pankisi Gorge," a lawless area of northeast Georgia where U.S. officials say terrorists linked to al-Qaida may be sheltered among Muslim guerrillas and refugees from across the border in the separatist-minded Russian region of Chechnya.
A British newspaper said Sunday it had obtained a previously unseen video of Osama bin Laden in which the Saudi-born dissident says that any country siding with Israel is a target for Islamic terrorists. The Sunday (London) Times newspaper said that unidentified supporters of the al-Qaida leader claimed sections of the 40-minute video were filmed eight weeks ago. The newspaper said, however, that the video did not provide enough clues for it to be dated.
Security at New York City water facilities fails to meet federal and state guidelines, making them potentially vulnerable to biological or chemical attacks, according to a report released Sunday by the New York State Assembly Committee on Oversight, Analysis and Investigation. It found that security at the facilities failed more than half of the federal Environmental Protection Agency and state Department of Health guidelines.
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