SEAL Was Executed, Purported Militant Says

The U.S. military said it had no evidence to support a Taliban claim Saturday that its militia executed an American special operations commando who has been missing for nearly two weeks in remote eastern Afghanistan.

Mullah Latif Hakimi, who says he is a spokesman for the Islamic extremist group, said in a telephone interview that the Navy SEAL commando’s body was dumped in a mountainous region of Kunar province.

The American soldier “was arrested by us exactly nine days before today,” said Hakimi, who was reached by telephone Saturday at an undisclosed location. “The soldier’s throat was cut with a knife from the front and his hands were tied.”

The mullah said he was unable to identify the commando or provide details to prove he had been killed. He said proof would be posted on a website today.

The commando was among a four-man Navy SEAL team that went missing during a clash with militants June 28. A wounded member of the team, who had taken shelter in the home of an Afghan village elder, was rescued four days after the SEALs called for help. The Pentagon said Tuesday that the bodies of two other Navy SEALs had been recovered.

A support team of 16 American troops sent to evacuate the Navy SEAL team died June 28 when suspected Taliban guerrillas shot down the special forces’ MH-47 transport helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade.

Calling the execution claim unsubstantiated, Lt. Cindy Moore, a spokeswoman for the U.S. military, said a search operation for the missing SEAL “is still ongoing.”

Moore refused to say whether the U.S. military had any evidence that the missing commando was alive, citing “operational security.”

Hundreds of U.S. and Afghan troops, backed by air power, are reportedly involved in the search.

Hakimi said that the commando’s body was left on a mountainside for Afghan or American soldiers to collect. The American was killed under a religious edict issued before U.S. forces invaded to topple the Taliban in the fall of 2001, Hakimi said.

“This American soldier was slaughtered because of Muslim scholars’ orders and that is why we didn’t need any trial for his murder,” the mullah said.

Hakimi had contacted Associated Press to report that the helicopter had been shot down before the U.S. military released news of the crash. He also said Taliban fighters had captured “a high-ranking American” near the crash site.

But he has provided no evidence, such as photographs or videotape, to prove that the Taliban captured the fourth commando alive.

“The picture and the proof of his murder is not my job, or my responsibility, but it may be shown in our website,” Hakimi said Saturday.

In its report, AP cautioned that Hakimi often called foreign news agencies with claims that have “frequently proven exaggerated or untrue, and his exact tie to the Taliban leadership cannot be independently verified.”

Taliban and allied fighters have intensified their war against U.S. and Afghan forces since March. At least 50 American soldiers have died under hostile fire in Afghanistan this year.

Watson is a Times staff writer and Zaman a special correspondent.