Missing U.S. commando found dead in Afghanistan

The fate of the last missing member of a U.S. special forces four-men unit, which disappeared in the mountains of Afghanistan last month has been made clear Monday. According to U.S. military, the body of the missing commando has been located in eastern Afghanistan.

One of the four men from the missing unit was rescued on July 3, and the other two were found dead the next day.

The body of the fourth U.S. Navy SEAL was found Sunday in Kunar province by a search and rescue team, the military said in a statement. It said all indications are that he died in fighting, despite a claim by a purported Taliban spokesman that he was captured alive and then beheaded, reports the AP. The statement says, the commando died on or about June 28.

The name of the dead American commando was not immediately released, pending notification of next of kin.

The Taliban spokesman, Mullah Latif Hakimi, never offered proof to back up his claim that the rebels were holding the commando, or that they had killed him. Information from Hakimi in the past has sometimes proven exaggerated or untrue, and his exact tie to the Taliban leadership cannot be independently verified.

The Navy SEAL team went missing after a special forces helicopter carrying reinforcements to a mountainous area in eastern Kunar province was shot down on June 28, killing all 16 Americans on board, the deadliest single attack on the U.S. military since the war in Iraq began in 2001.

Meanwhile, Britain and the United States seem to plan to withdraw most of their troops from Iraq, says DrudgeReport, citing the Sunday Mail in UK. According to a secret paper obtained by the Sunday Mail, allegedly written by UK Defence Secretary John Reid for Tony Blair, many of the 8,500 British troops in Iraq are set to be brought home within three months, with most of the rest returning six months later.

Embarrassingly, the document says the Americans are split over the plan - and it suggests one of the reasons for getting British troops out is to save money. Mr Reid says cutting UK troop numbers to 3,000 by the middle of next year will save GBP 500million a year, though it will be 18 months before the cash comes through.

The document, Options For Future UK Force Posture In Iraq, is the first conclusive proof that preparations for a major withdrawal from Iraq are well advanced, says DrudgeReport.

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