2 SEAL Deaths Confirmed

The Pentagon confirmed Tuesday that the bodies of two Navy SEALs have been recovered in Afghanistan.

A third SEAL has been rescued and a fourth member of their special operations team remains missing.

The team was part of what the Pentagon described as a counter-terrorism operation in Kunar province.

A helicopter carrying eight SEALs and eight other special operations troops to support ground troops crashed June 28, killing all aboard.

In Kabul on Tuesday, Afghanistan condemned the killing of up to 17 civilians in a U.S. airstrike in the province, which borders Pakistan.

“The president is extremely saddened and disturbed,” said Jawed Ludin, President Hamid Karzai’s chief of staff. “There is no way ... the killing of civilians can be justified.”

The Pentagon expressed regret Tuesday that civilians were killed in the weekend strike.

“I think we’ve been very precise,” said spokesman Lawrence DiRita. “But these things do occur, and we obviously regret when they do.”

Another Pentagon spokesman, Bryan Whitman, said the number of people killed in the airstrike was still unclear but that “roughly half” of the reported deaths may have been civilians. The rest were Taliban or Al Qaeda fighters, he said.

An upsurge of violence in Afghanistan has left about 700 people dead.

Afghan officials insist the violence will not disrupt landmark legislative elections scheduled for September.