Three U.S. Soldiers Missing In Macedonia
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three U.S. soldiers who reported they were under small arms fire and surrounded while traveling
in a military vehicle in Macedonia are missing, a U.S. defense official said Wednesday.
''NATO forces and Macedonian police units are searching for a three-man reconnaissance team,'' the official, who asked not
to be named, said.
NATO is waging an air strike campaign on neighboring Yugoslavia where the United States says President Slobodan Milosevic
has undertaken an ''ethnic cleansing'' campaign against ethnic Albanians in the southern province of Kosovo.
The U.S. Army soldiers were traveling in the Kumanovo area in a military vehicle on a civilian road when they radioed they had
come under ''small arms fire and said they were surrounded,'' the defense official said. ''There was nothing more heard from
the patrol,'' the official said.
Several U.S. military vehicles were conducting a routine patrol together when they began to move separately over rough terrain
but maintained radio contact, the official said.
''Apparently at some point and time one of the Humvees ... reported to the others that he had began taking fire, then he
reported that he was surrounded and that's the last they heard from him,'' the defense official said. All the soldiers and vehicles
involved were American.
The incident occurred at about 7:30 to 8 a.m. EST (1230 to 1300 GMT), 2:30 to 3 p.m. Macedonia time.
''The Humvees that were not involved with the shooting or the surrounding then began an active search for their companion,''
the defense official said.
Whey they could not locate the missing soldiers or vehicle, they called back to their base and Black Hawk helicopters, two
British helicopters, ground teams and Macedonian police units started searching for the missing soldiers. ''The search is
ongoing,'' the official said.
It was the first report of missing NATO forces since the air strikes began last week. A U.S. F-117 stealth fighter crashed last
weekend, but the pilot was rescued.
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