The dead soldiers were part of a four-man Navy SEAL reconnaissance team that disappeared when an American helicopter sent to rescue them was shot down in Kunar province, the BBC and the New York Times said, quoting US military sources.

One of the other commandos was rescued on Saturday while the US remains cautious after conflicting reports about the location of the last of the four.

The US military would only confirm that one soldier had been rescued and was alive. "We're happy to find our missing serviceman," spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jerry O'Hara told AFP.

The soldier was receiving medical treatment at Bagram Airfield, the main American base in Afghanistan, where he was in a stable condition, a coalition statement said late Monday.

Asadullah Wafa, the governor of Kunar province, said another SEAL commando was alive and staying with Afghan villagers, the New York Times reported Monday, citing a top Pentagon source.

US officials said Wafa was referring to the team member who was rescued Saturday, according to the Times, but Wafa was quoted as saying he believed it was the fourth of the commandos.

Afghanistan's private Tolo television station Monday also quoted unidentified US officials as saying a second commando from the missing team had been rescued.

The fate of the final soldier is highly sensitive since the ousted Taliban militia said at the weekend that they had captured an American servicemen. They have not produced any evidence to support the claim.

"I would not comment," O'Hara said when asked for the US reaction to the Times and BBC reports.

The MH-47 Chinook helicopter sent to extract the special forces unit was brought down by what was believed to be a rocket propelled grenade on June 28, killing 16 military personnel including eight Navy SEALs on board.

The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack, which was the biggest loss of US troops in a single attack since the Islamic regime was overthrown late in 2001.

US and Afghan forces are continuing a major anti-militant operation in Kunar province alongside the search and rescue mission.

On Monday the US military expressed regret at the deaths of civilians during an airstrike, which according to the Kunar provincial governor killed 17 villagers including women and children last Friday.

The US statement did not specify the number of civilian deaths. It said American forces struck a "terrorist compound", leading to the deaths of an unknown number of "enemy terrorists" and non-combatants.

Attacks blamed on the Taliban have risen in recent weeks before September 18 parliamentary elections.

Two Turkish road engineers were injured and their Afghan driver was killled when Taliban militants set off a roadside bomb in the southeastern province of Ghazni on Monday, the interior ministry said.

The rebels also kidnapped and killed two Afghan police officers from Helmand province in the war-shattered country's deep south on the same day, said ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal.

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