U.S. medical team in Afghanistan attacked

The U.S. military medical team in Afghanistan came under attack on Tuesday, as U.S. air strike that claimed the lives of up to 17 civilians sparked sharp criticism from the government.

But according to a military statement, no one was wounded in the attack on the U.S. medical team which took place yesterday near Asadabad town, Kunar province.

The U.S. occupation forces in the region used mortars to respond to the attack launched by Afghan rebels who fled unharmed.

“It’s incredible to us the enemy would attack our forces while we are providing innocent Afghans with health care,” said U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O’Hara.

U.S. forces are still searching for the final member of an elite four-man Navy Seal commando team that went missing last week in eastern Afghanistan.

According to a military statement, only one Seal has been rescued, while the bodies of two others were recovered on Monday and taken to the main U.S. base in Afghanistan, at Bagram.

A U.S. helicopter sent to the region to search for the four was shot down the day the team went missing, killing the 16 U.S. servicemen aboard.

A U.S. military statement said that the only serviceman who has been rescued is now receiving medical treatment for “non-life-threatening injuries”.

A recent U.S. air strike on a house in the same area killed several Afghan civilians, but the number of those who were killed was still unclear.

The U.S. military claimed that the house was “a known operating base for terrorist attacks … as well as a base for a medium-level terrorist leader.”.

“These things do occur and we obviously regret them when they do. And we’ll investigate to be able to determine what may have happened and how it can be avoided in the future,” Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said in Washington.

But Jawed Ludin, Karzai’s chief of staff, said “there is no way … the killing of civilians can be justified.”

“The president is extremely saddened and disturbed,” he said. “It’s the terrorists we are fighting. It’s not our people who should suffer.”

An Afghan government team has been sent to the site of the attack to probe the bombing, according to a Defence Ministry statement said.

Kunar provincial Gov. Asadullah Wafa said that the house has been destroyed in an initial U.S. air strike, and as villagers gathered to look at the damage, U.S. warplane dropped a second bomb on the same target, killing 17 civilians, including three women and children.