GL News

HEIDI VOGT Associated Press Writer

KABUL, Afghanistan — One of two U.S. sailors missing in Afghanistan since last week — a 30-year-old father of two — has been confirmed dead and his body recovered, a NATO spokesman said Tuesday.

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An Afghan soldier launches a rocket-propelled grenade as U.S. soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division duck during a clash with insurgents at COP Nolen, in the volatile Arghandab Valley near Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Tuesday.

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McNeley

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The Pentagon identified the dead sailor as Petty Officer 2nd Class Justin McNeley, 30, of Wheatridge, Colo.

The search continues for the other missing sailor, said Lt. Col. Todd Breasseale, a spokesman for NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

The Pentagon identified the missing sailor as Petty Officer 3rd Class Jarod Newlove, 25, of Renton, Wash. The Pentagon listed Newlove’s whereabouts as unknown and is not confirming he was captured.

The two Navy personnel went missing Friday in the eastern province of Logar, after an armored sport utility vehicle was seen driving into a Taliban-held area. The Taliban have said they killed one of the two men in a firefight, captured the other and are holding him in a “safe place” where he will not be found.

In a statement, the NATO-led command said the body was recovered Sunday after an extensive search and the coalition “holds the captors accountable for the safety and proper treatment of our missing service member.”

NATO officials were unable to say what the two service members were doing in such a dangerous area.

The sailors were instructors at a counterinsurgency school for Afghan security forces, according to senior military officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The school was headquartered in Kabul and had classrooms outside the capital, but they were never assigned anywhere near where the body of the sailor was recovered, the officials said.

Jim Kerr, a Colorado legislator, said McNeley was his wife’s nephew.