Special Ops GI Team Missing in Afghanistan

"KABUL, Afghanistan - U.S. forces are desperately scouring rugged Afghan mountains Friday for an elite American military team missing since Tuesday in the same area where a U.S. helicopter was shot down.

The loss of the American military team in the remote eastern mountains worsened the already stinging blow suffered by the U.S. military after 16 troops were killed Tuesday aboard the MH-47 Chinook chopper.

U.S. forces were using 'every available asset' to search for the missing men, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara said. The missing troops are a small team from the special operations forces, said military officials, speaking Friday on the condition of anonymity because rescue operations were still under way.

The downed helicopter had been trying to 'extract the soldiers' Tuesday when it went into the mountains near Asadabad, close to the Pakistani border, O'Hara said.