Missing Nato soldier body found

Nato troops are facing rising violence in western Afghanistan

The body of one of two US soldiers believed to have drowned while on a mission in western Afghanistan has been found, Nato officials have said.

The two soldiers, who went missing on 4 November, are believed to have died recovering supplies dropped by Nato aircraft that had fallen into a river.

Last week, a Taliban spokesman was reported as saying the bodies had been recovered in Badghis province.

But Nato said its forces were still searching for the other soldier.

"One of the two missing US soldiers was found by a military dive team yesterday in western Afghanistan," Nato said in a statement, adding that Afghan and international forces would continue to look for the other serviceman.

The two soldiers, paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division, went missing during a mission near the border with Turkmenistan.

Soldiers from more than 40 countries make up Nato's force of nearly 110,000, two-thirds of them from the US.

The biggest contingents operating in the west of the country are from the United States and Italy.