KABUL (PAN): The body of a missing US soldier has been recovered after days of an extensive search operation in eastern Afghanistan, NATO announced on Tuesday.

Two US troops left their compound in Kabul in a vehicle on Friday afternoon, but failed to return. On Saturday night, a joint search and rescue bid was launched for the soldiers.

With the fate of the second soldier still unknown, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said: "We will continue this (search and rescue) effort until our service-member is recovered."

A day earlier, Din Muhammad Darwesh, a spokesman for the governor of Logar, where the soldiers were kidnapped by the Taliban fighters, said the corpse had been found in a deserted house in the Patang area of Charkh district.

"ISAF holds the captors accountable for the safety and proper treatment of our missing service-member," the multination force said, after the Taliban claimed holding the second soldier.

The dead sailor, the 1207^th US soldier to be killed in Afghanistan since 2001, has been identified as Justin McNeley, 30. A non-commissioned officer and father of two sons, he was due to return home next month.

mud/pr