BAGRAM, Afghanistan, 12 July 2005 — US forces launched a manhunt for four “dangerous” Arab Al-Qaeda militants who escaped from US detention in Afghanistan yesterday, hours after another search found the body of a missing US commando.
In a fresh embarrassment for US forces reeling from their worst combat losses in Afghanistan since invading in 2001, the four were reported missing from the heavily guarded detention center at the main US base early in the morning. The new crisis came as US forces have been struggling to contain a surge in militant violence ahead of Sept. 18 parliamentary elections, the next big step in Afghanistan’s difficult path to stability.
The escape was the first known from the detention center deep within the sprawling Bagram Air Base, about 50 km north of the capital Kabul.
The US spokesman at Bagram, Lt. Col. Jerry O’Hara, described the men as “dangerous enemy combatants,” but declined to identify them.
Kabir Ahmad, chief of Bagram district, said they were Syrian Abdullah Hashimi, Kuwaiti Mahmoud Ahmad Mohammad, Saudi Mahmoud Al-Fatahni and Libyan Mohammad Hassan. Dozens of US troops were seen stopping and searching vehicles every few hundred meters around the base and nearby villages, while US helicopters flew overhead.
“We consider this very serious business,” O’Hara said. “These guys are dangerous not only to Afghanistan but to the world in general.” He said there had been no US casualties in the escape and he had no reports of violence. “I can’t give specifics on how they escaped,” he said. “The circumstances surrounding the escape are under investigation as we speak.” O’Hara said the men could still be on the base and it was being thoroughly searched by military police.
Ahmad said he had heard the men may have escaped the base in a Japanese-made pickup truck. “If they are in this area, then there’s a strong possibility we will arrest them,” he said. Yesterday’s incident capped a painful two weeks for the US military, which saw 19 US troops killed after a reconnaissance team of four Navy SEAL commandos was pinned down by militant fire in the eastern province of Kunar on June 28.
The commandos called for support, only for a helicopter carrying more special forces troops to be shot down, killing all 16 American troops aboard.
The US military said a search involving hundreds of US troops eventually found the dead bodies of two of the missing SEALS on July 4, after one had been rescued the previous day.
Another military spokesman, Col. Jim Yonts, said the final member of the team was found dead in Kunar on Sunday and it appeared he had been killed in a clash on or about June 28.
