Afghanistan on Tuesday condemned the killing of up to 17 civilians in a U.S. air strike, and a senior U.S. defense official confirmed the deaths of two Navy SEALS that were missing in action in the country's northeast. The air strike came Friday in Kunar province, which borders Pakistan, the same area where a U.S. transport helicopter was downed late last month, killing 16 troops in the deadliest single blow to American forces since they ousted the Taliban in 2001. "The president is extremely saddened and disturbed," said Jawed Ludin, President Hamid Karzai's chief of staff. "There is no way ... the killing of civilians can be justified. ... It's the terrorists we are fighting. It's not our people who should suffer." A government team is on its way to the site to investigate the bombing, The Associated Press quoted a Defense Ministry statement as saying. Meanwhile, two members of the U.S. Navy's elite special forces branch - known as SEALS - that were missing in Kunar have been found dead, a senior U.S. defense official in Washington said Monday night. Another SEAL was rescued on Saturday and the fate of a fourth was unknown.
