January 5, 2002	Saturday	Shawwal 20, 1422

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WASHINGTON, Jan 4: A US special forces soldier was killed on Friday in a firefight in eastern Afghanistan, said General Tommy Franks, commander of US military operations in Afghanistan.

The special forces member was the first US soldier killed by hostile fire since the United States launched a military campaign in Afghanistan.

Franks said a member of the US Army special forces was killed by small arms fire near Gardez-Khost, and that no one else was injured.

“What we know right now is that the mission that he was on, as a part of a team, was to coordinate with some local tribal elements in the vicinity of Gardez-Khost, in order to facilitate cooperation between our forces in the region and the local tribal elements in that region,” Franks said.

A CIA operative was killed in a prison riot near Mazar-i-Sharif.

Three US special forces troops and five Afghans were killed in early December when a B-52 bomber dropped a 2,000-pound satellite-guided bomb.—AFP