2 missing U.S. sailors in Afghanistan took wrong turn, NATO says

AFGHANISTAN

Sailors took wrong turn, NATO says

The two U.S. Navy sailors who disappeared Friday left a base on the outskirts of Kabul called Camp Julien, which houses NATO's counterinsurgency academy, and might have taken a wrong turn that sent them toward Logar province, NATO officials said.

Although NATO characterizes both men as missing, Afghan officials and a Taliban spokesman said one of the two was killed in a shootout with insurgents in the dangerous Charkh district of Logar. Their disappearance has prompted a manhunt in Logar, with U.S. and Afghan troops searching cars and houses for the Americans.

After the apparent killing of one American and the abduction of another, NATO has tightened its security. Now, U.S. military personnel are prohibited from driving alone and must travel in convoys of at least two vehicles, NATO officials said.

Why the two sailors drove into Logar and which unit they were part of remain undisclosed. Logar borders Kabul to the south but is a long drive, and it is unclear why the sailors would not have turned around if they were lost. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on a visit to Kabul that their trip appeared to be an "unusual circumstance."

-- Joshua Partlow

Claim of civilian deaths disputed

The Afghan government said Monday that 52 civilians, including women and children, died when a NATO rocket struck a village in southern Afghanistan last week -- a report disputed by the international coalition.

A statement by President Hamid Karzai's office said an investigation by Afghan intelligence determined that a NATO rocket slammed into the village of Rigi in the Sangin district of Helmand province, one of the most violent areas of the country.

The U.S.-led command said a NATO-Afghan investigation into the alleged attack "has thus far revealed no evidence of civilians injured or killed."