The Taleban reiterated on Thursday that they are holding a US commando who has been missing in Afghanistan for more than a week and vowed to kill him, but the US military said it had no information to support the claim. Taleban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi said the guerrillas did not need to provide evidence that they were holding the man.
"We don't need to do this because very soon we plan to execute him and then release his video to the world," he said from an undisclosed location.
"There is no way the soldier is going to be released. He will be executed."
The US military says a four-man team of elite Navy SEAL commandos went missing during a clash with insurgents in the eastern province of Kunar on June 28.
It says two were found dead on Monday, while another has been rescued, but the fourth remains unaccounted for.
US military spokeswoman Lieutenant Cindy Moore said a big search operation for the missing man was continuing.
"We are aggressively searching for him ... We don't have anything to support that," she said of the Taleban claim.