U.S. Soldier Shot and Wounded in Afghanistan

December 04, 2001 07:33 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. soldier was shot in the shoulder and wounded during combat in Afghanistan on Tuesday and was in stable condition, a U.S. defense official said.

"At approximately 10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT) today we did have a service member who received a gunshot wound to his shoulder while conducting some combat operations in support of Operation Enduring Freedom," a U.S. Central Command spokesman said, referring to the name of the U.S. military campaign on Afghanistan.

"He was medically evacuated to a military hospital and he is now in stable condition," Navy Commander Ernest Duplessis, the spokesman, said.

He did not have any information about who shot the serviceman or where the shooting occurred.

One CIA operative was killed in a prison uprising in northern Afghanistan near Mazar-i-Sharif last month, the first known U.S. combat fatality since the United States began bombing that country on Oct. 7.

The bombing campaign is aimed at destroying Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network, as well as the Taliban for sheltering him in Afghanistan.

The United States has accused bin Laden of masterminding the Sept. 11 hijacked plane attacks that killed about 3,900 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

-- Anonymous, December 04, 2001