Taliban Fighters Say They Captured a U.S. Military Dog

Taliban militants said Thursday that they have abducted a military dog from an American-led unit in Afghanistan.

NBC News reports that the dog that was allegedly taken during a raid where six U.S. soldiers were killed, or so the Taliban claim. Militants uploaded a video clip of the frightened-looking dog to a jihadist website.

“This dog was very important to the Americans,” Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told NBC News. “Once we got this dog, the Americans tried their best to get it back but they did not succeed.”

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Despite Taliban claims, the dog’s nationality remains unknown. Defense officials in Washington, D.C. believe it belonged to a British unit. Laurie Arellano, spokesperson for the coalition forces in Afghanistan, said that, “We are aware of media reports and we’re looking into it.”

Not all is lost for the captured dog. In 2010, an Australian bomb-sniffing dog was rescued by U.S. forces after it was missing in Afghanistan for 18 months.

[NBC]