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U.S. Soldier Killed in Afghanistan

Aired May 20, 2002 - 05:06   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We want to go live to Afghanistan now, where another U.S. soldier has been killed.

We turn to CNN's Anderson Cooper, who is in Kabul this morning -- good morning, Anderson.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

It is a sad day. Some sad news to report. U.S. Sergeant Gene Arden Vance, a 10 year veteran of the West Virginia National Guard, operating with the Special Forces in eastern Afghanistan, was killed while on patrol yesterday. We do not know the exact circumstances of his death, how he was killed. It took place around 5:00 p.m. local time. That's about 8:30 a.m. Eastern time Sunday morning.

The death was announced earlier today at Bagram Air Base. Sergeant Vance, as I said, is from West Virginia, from Morgantown, West Virginia. He is survived by a wife and a daughter and he will be returned home to the United States later this week.

What we do know about what happened is that they were on patrol in the Paktia province, the eastern part of Afghanistan near the Pakistan border. Their patrol came under some sort of fire. They returned fire, killing at least one suspected enemy force. Sergeant Vance was killed somewhere in that attack and an Afghan allied fighter was also wounded.

Brian Hilferty, a U.S. military spokesman, made this statement earlier this morning about the effect Sergeant Vance's killing will have on U.S. operations here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. BRYAN HILFERTY, U.S. ARMY: I'm not sure the mood has changed. I think all of us soldiers here and even the civilians who are supporting us, we all understand this is a dangerous business. This is a war. The United States and I think the civilization is at war against terrorism. So we realize there are risks. We realize there are going to be casualties. So one casualty doesn't deter us. It certainly makes us realize, you know, understand mortality more. But we're determined to see this mission out to its end.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COOPER: Now, this, of course, is the same region in Afghanistan where Operation Condor is under way. That is a British led military operation. About 1,000 British troops left from Bagram Air Base Thursday night, searching that area of eastern Afghanistan for some suspected al Qaeda or Taliban fighters who allegedly fired upon some Australian special forces troops on Thursday afternoon.

They have been searching the area since then. They have not come under, those British troops have not come under any contact with enemy forces, but that operation is ongoing -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Anderson Cooper reporting live from Kabul this morning. Thank you for the update.

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