US bombards militants; Taliban shoot cleric

KABUL, Monday (Reuters) U.S. aircraft blasted militant positions in eastern Afghanistan as U.S. forces searched for a sixth day for soldiers missing since just before a helicopter coming to their aid was shot down, police said.

One U.S. Special Forces operative missing since Tuesday was rescued, CNN reported on Sunday, but a U.S. military. spokeswomen in Kabul was unable to confirm the operation.

Elsewhere, a pro-government Islamic scholar died after being shot near the southern city of Kandahar, the second such attack in just over a month, as Taliban militants stepped up violence aimed at derailing parliamentary elections on Sept. 18.

In the east, U.S. aircraft bombarded militant positions on a mountain between the Nangalam and Shorai areas of Kunar, the province where a small team of U.S. soldiers has been missing since Tuesday, a senior Afghan police officer said.

The officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he had no information about casualties.

Earlier, the BBC quoted unidentified U.S. military officials as saying civilians may have died in the bombing of a militant compound in Kunar province on Friday, but a U.S. spokeswoman said ground troops were assessing the effects of the strike.

Lieutenant Cindy Moore said she had no information about any fresh air strikes. The governor of Kunar province, Assadullah Wafa, told Reuters reports he had were that 20 Taliban militants had been killed in Friday's air strikes, and no civilians.

Hundreds of U.S. and Afghan troops have been searching since Tuesday for a "small" U.S. reconnaissance team that went missing in Kunar just before a U.S. helicopter carrying 16 Special Forces troops to their aid was shot down, killing all aboard.

It was the biggest single combat blow for U.S. forces in Afghanistan since they overthrew the Taliban in 2001.