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| Afghanistan |
| Two CIA operatives killed in Afghanistan |
| 2003-10-29 |
| Two US CIA operatives have been killed in an ambush while tracking terrorists in Afghanistan. The ambush on Saturday happened on the same day and in the same region as a six-hour gun battle in which coalition aircraft and Afghan militia killed 18 rebel fighters. Six Afghan militia soldiers were wounded in the fighting, but there were no coalition casualties, the military said. Itâs unclear whether the two incidents are linked, and the military has not explained why its account of the fighting was delayed by three days. In Washington, the CIA identified the two men as William Carlson, 43, of North Carolina, and Christopher Mueller, 32, of San Diego, California. Both were veterans of military special operations forces, the CIA said. In a statement, the CIA said they were tracking terrorists operating in the region of Shkin, a village in eastern Afghanistan, when they were killed. It did not provide details of the ambush or the two operativesâ mission. They were in the remote mountainous region on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan, where Osama bin Laden is thought to be hiding. It also is a stronghold for al-Qaida, Taliban and other anti-coalition fighters. Carlson and Mueller are the third and fourth CIA operatives that the agency has acknowledged have been killed in Afghanistan in the line of duty since the September 11 attacks. |
| Posted by:Bulldog |
| #6 Details on William Carlson and what happened: A recently retired Special Forces veteran from Southern Pines lost his life Saturday tracking terrorists in Afghanistan for the CIA. William Carlson, 43, fought in Operation Enduring Freedom. He retired from the Army last spring. They called him âChiefâ because some of his family members were Dakota Blackfeet. He lived in Southern Pines with his wife, Cheri, and their sons Shaun, who is in college, and Shayne, a student at Union Pines High School. Three weeks ago, Carlson went back to war, this time as a civilian working under contract to the CIA. He was assigned to the CIAâs Directorate of Operations. On Saturday, Oct. 25, Carlson was involved in a raid against suspected Taliban and al Qaeda forces southwest of the Afghan border town of Shkin. He and another CIA operative, Christopher Glenn Mueller of San Diego, were killed while tracking terrorists operating in the region, according to a statement released by the CIA. Before working for the CIA, Carlson, had extensive experience in Army special operations. Mueller, 32, was a veteran of Navy special operations. A group of Taliban and al Qaeda fugitives fired rockets and heavy machine-guns on a base used by U.S.-led troops and their Afghan allies in the Afghan border town of Shkin, near the Pakistan border, according to Paktika province governor Mohammad Ali Jalali, as cited in Pentagon reports. Carlson and Mueller were working with the Afghan army troops. They were officially listed as state department security officers, but the state department denied any knowledge of them at the time. In the raid that killed Carlson and Mueller, 10 suspected enemy fighters were killed by Afghan army troops backed up by U.S. helicopters and war planes, according to a statement from Pentagon sources Monday. Pentagon officials said the two apparently were hit by âarmor piercing roundsâ while working with the Afghan Army troops. Air support was called in on Tuesday. |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-10-29 11:20:00 AM |
| #5 I get the impression that the CIA contracts all dangerous field work to contractors that are former special ops guys. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-10-29 9:53:29 AM |
| #4 no problem, been there, done that ;-) |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-10-29 9:39:00 AM |
| #3 Oops, my bad. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2003-10-29 8:53:24 AM |
| #2 repost from yesterday, since then, it's been revealed Mueller was an ex-seal...wonder how they got him. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-10-29 8:47:13 AM |
| #1 Thank you. RIP |
| Posted by: Mike 2003-10-29 8:27:42 AM |