US army refutes Taliban's claim on beheading US soldier

US military on Monday refuted Taliban's claim on beheading the missing US soldier terming it "a merely propaganda".

"The body of the US serviceman was found and there is no sign in his body to prove Taliban's claim," US spokesperson Jims Yonts told reporters at a press briefing here in the capital.

The body of the missing serviceman was found Sunday in eastern Afghanistan during a desperate search of the army.

The soldier, member of a four-member US special force team in eastern Kunar province, went missing on June 28.

The four US Navy SEALs members were missing as they carried out the reconnaissance work in Kunar. According to military sources, US military on the same day sent a Chinook chopper to the place for rescuing them, but ended in tragedy with being shot down by the rocket-propelled grenade. Sixteen US soldiers including eight Navy SEALs members in the chopper also died.

More than 300 US soldiers were dispatched to the place for the continued rescue afterwards.

Three members of the team including two dead were found last week while Taliban's spokesman Mawlawi Abdul Latif Hakimi Saturday said they had captured and beheaded the missing US soldier, and abandoned the body to the mountainous area of Kunar.

"Our forces in the ground found the body of the soldier. He was never in custody rather he was killed in battle and his body was found in Koranwal valley on July 10," said the spokesman.

"There have been claims of being beheaded, but there was no indication supporting the claims," the spokesman said, adding " this individual was never in custody, he was never defamed or disgraced."

Kunar has been the scene of heavy clashes between Taliban-led militants and Afghan and US troops since late June during which 19 US soldiers, including 16 on helicopter board, and dozens of militants and civilians have been killed.

The death of these 19 US soldiers in this accident brings the death toll of US troops to almost 170 in and around Afghanistan since Operation Enduring Freedom began in 2001.

Source: Xinhua