KABUL, July 9: Taliban militants in Afghanistan on Saturday claimed to have beheaded a US special forces soldier they had held hostage since last week, but the US military said there was no proof the soldier had been killed.

Taliban spokesman Mullah Abdul Latif Hakimi said the soldier was killed on Saturday and his body was left on a mountainside in the northeastern province of Kunar.

An American navy SEAL has been missing in Kunar after the rescue attempt of a four-man team ended in the downing of a US military helicopter on June 28, killing 16 people. One soldier was rescued but the other two are dead.

“This morning at 11:00 am (0630 GMT) in Shagal district in Kunar province, the Taliban killed the American soldier and cut his head off,” Hakimi said.

“We left the body on a mountainside in the area ... so the Afghan or US soldiers there can find it,” the spokesman said, declining to give any details about the victim.

15 POLICEMEN MISSING: Fifteen Afghan police officers were missing after suspected Taliban militants attacked their convoy in southern Afghanistan, officials said in Kandahar on Saturday.