Warplanes pounded a suspected Taliban compound in the Afghan mountains near where an elite American military team was missing, while a transport plane flew home the bodies of 16 US troops killed when their special forces helicopter was shot down while trying to rescue the missing team, officials said.

A SMALL team of American soldiers was missing last night in the same mountains in eastern Afghanistan where a special forces helicopter was shot down earlier this week.

US forces desperately scoured rugged Afghan mountains today for a small team of soldiers missing after fierce fighting that included the shooting down of a special forces helicopter with 16 troops aboard earlier this week, US officials said.

American soldiers were today identifying the remains of 16 troops killed when their special forces helicopter was shot down and plunged into a mountain ravine in eastern Afghanistan.

THE US military said yesterday that hostile fire likely brought down a Chinook helicopter that crashed in eastern Afghanistan, and officials said the status of the 17 American soldiers aboard was unknown.

A US Chinook helicopter that crashed in eastern Afghanistan may have been shot down by hostile fire, and the fate of 17 American service members aboard was unclear, the US military said today. The Taliban claimed it attacked the aircraft.

A US Chinook helicopter that crashed in eastern Afghanistan was likely shot down by hostile fire, and the fate of 17 American servicemembers is unclear, the US military said today. The Taliban claimed to have attacked the aircraft.

Fierce fighting between Taliban rebels and Afghan security forces left 18 insurgents and three others dead, a day after the US military pounded suspected rebels in airstrikes that killed as many as 20, officials said today.

A suspected al-Qaida suicide bomber blew himself up today during the funeral of a moderate Muslim cleric, killing 20 people including the Kabul police chief, and wounding 42 others, officials said.