KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — A member of an elite military team missing in the Afghan mountains since last week has been rescued, a U.S. Defense Department official said Sunday.
The Navy SEAL was being rushed to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of ongoing search-and-rescue operations.
He declined to give any other details. At least three other members of the team are reportedly still being sought.
The elite troops were reported missing in mountains in Kunar province, near the border with Pakistan, a week ago.
A rescue attempt Tuesday ended in tragedy when a transport helicopter seeking to extract the team was shot down, killing 16 special operations troops aboard.
The deaths brought to 45 the number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan in the last three months amid a surge in fighting and attacks ahead of fall parliamentary elections.
In violence Sunday, a member of Afghanistan's influential Council of Clerics who was a prominent supporter of President Hamid Karzai was shot and killed in the southern city of Kandahar. Maulvi Mohammed Nabi Masah was driving home from his office when gunmen on motorcycles attacked him.
