US soldier dies after training run in Afghanistan

BAGRAM AIR BASE: A US soldier collapsed and died in Kabul after finishing a training run, a US military spokesman said Monday.

“A US army soldier died Saturday at the Kabul military centre, the facility for the Afghan National Army basic training,” Colonel Rodney Davis told reporters at Bagram Air Base 50 km (30 miles) north of Kabul. “The soldier had just completed a physical training run when he collapsed. The cause of death has not been determined,” he said. “He died of a natural cause, we believe.” Kabul is 1,800 metres (6,000 feet) above sea level.

Meanwhile, Special Operations Forces Saturday recovered a cache of 389 mortar rounds and 71 rockets at a fort near the city of Jalalabad, 120 km (75 miles) east of Kabul. In northwest Afghanistan, US troops finished their search of a cave complex full of weapons and ammunition near Maimana city in Faryab province. The entrances to all 19 caves were sealed using explosives. Usable tank rounds and small arms ammunition were handed over to the Afghan National Army. Announcing the find last month, Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali said the cache appeared to have been created during Afghanistan’s 1992-1996 civil war and was not a Taliban or Al Qaeda arsenal.—AFP

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