Afghan terror suspects escape US military base

FOUR suspected Arab terrorists broke out of a heavily-guarded US military detention facility in Afghanistan yesterday — the first time anyone has escaped — sparking a massive manhunt.

Rescuers, meanwhile, found the body of the last member of a four-man elite military team that went missing two weeks ago in the eastern mountains, ending a desperate search that started when the commandos were ambushed and a special forces helicopter was shot down as it brought 16 troops to help them.

One of the four men was rescued on July 3, and the other two were found dead the next day.

The single surviving commando was saved from the militants by an Afghan shepherd, Gulab, who found him wounded in the mountains and took him to his home.

Despite demands from the rebels to hand over the American, Gulab and his neighbours refused to give him up because of a tribal honour-code that bars them from refusing sanctuary to a guest.

The shepherd later escorted the American down to the nearest US base in the town of Asadabad.

The US military said the fourth commando had died in the ambush and vehemently denied claims by a purported Taliban spokesman that he was captured alive and then

beheaded.

US soldiers searching for the four suspects who escaped from the US military detention facility set up roadblocks while several helicopters clattered low over tiny villages surrounding Bagram, the main US base, just north of the capital, Kabul.

“They are considered dangerous and are suspected terrorists,” said US military spokeswoman Lieutenant Cindy Moore.

Local police chief Abdulrahman Mawalana identified the four as Abdullah from Syria, Mohammed al-Qatari from Saudi Arabia, Mahmood Ahmad from Kuwait, and Abulbakar

Mohammed Hassan from Libya.

Local government chief Kaber Ahmad said: “Coalition forces, police and Afghan troops have surrounded several villages near the base. The coalition has distributed photos of the four.”

Yesterday’s breakout is the latest setback for the US military as it struggles to contain an unprecedented spate of insurgent fighting that has left more than 700 people dead in three months and threatened to sabotage three years of progress toward peace.

US and Afghan officials have warned that the violence is likely to worsen in the lead-up to legislative elections in September.