Local officials: Abducted U.S. service member killed

CNN -

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- One American service member who was abducted in Afghanistan on Friday has been killed, provincial government officials said Sunday.

Den Mohammad Darwish, the spokesman for the governor of Logar province, said he learned from locals that the service member was killed.

Darwish told CNN the body was found in the Patanak Mountains of Charkh district. He also said the vehicle the men were driving was located Sunday.

The Taliban wanted to take both men alive, but a firefight broke out, killing one of the Americans, Mujahid said. The other is alive and being held in a safe location, he said.

Three U.S. military officials told CNN the two service members are from the Navy. Rashid said the second sailor who was also abducted is wounded and still missing.

There were no immediate demands from the Taliban for the return of the Americans because the group was still deliberating what its demands would be.

Adm. Mike Mullen, in a press conference Sunday, said he could not give out any information. But he did call it an "unusual circumstance" to have two individuals leave the base and drive over an hour away in a non-military vehicle.

CBS News -

Samer Gul, the chief of Logar's Charkh district, said a four-wheel drive armored sports utility vehicle was seen Friday night by a guard working for the district chief's office. The guard tried to flag down the vehicle, carrying a driver and a passenger, but it kept going, Gul said.

"They stopped in the main bazaar of Charkh district. The Taliban saw them in the bazaar," Gul said. "They didn't touch them in the bazaar, but notified other Taliban that a four-wheel vehicle was coming their way."

The second group of Taliban tried to stop the vehicle, but when it didn't, insurgents opened fire and the occupants in the vehicle shot back, he said.

Gul said there is a well-paved road that leads into the Taliban area and suggested the Americans may have mistaken that for the main highway - which is much older and more dilapidated.

The headline would lead you to believe that this sailor was abducted and then killed. You have to read further along to find out he was killed in a fire fight trying not to get abducted. I'm sure the average USA citizen would gather this from the story, but the headline is misleading.

It's interesting to note that the Admiral calls it unusual that two men go so far out side the capital along, but then again maybe he isn't in the know about all the operations that these type of men do.

The bit from CBS indicates that maybe they were on the wrong road. Maybe they were just clerks trying to get home, and got lost. I somehow doubt it, as the SUV would probably be equipped with GPS.