U.S. Marine loses foot in mine explosion; more troops airlifted to Afghan base

By DOUG MELLGREN
Associated Press Writer

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – A U.S. Marine who lost a foot to a land mine was evacuated from Afghanistan, a spokesman said Monday, as planeloads of troops and equipment flew into the new Marine base at Kandahar's airport.

Cpl. Chris Chandler was flown to a hospital in an unidentified country after stepping on an anti-personnel mine Sunday while patrolling the airport, said Capt. David Romley, a Marines spokesman.

Two other Marines, Sgt. Adrian Aranda and Lance Cpl. Nicholas Sovereign, suffered wounds in the hand or arm in the same blast. They were in stable condition at the Marines' Camp Rhino in the desert southwest of Kandahar, Romley said. He did not know the ages or hometowns of the wounded.

Four U.S. military personnel have died in Afghanistan since the war began Oct. 7. Three Army Green Berets were killed by a misdirected U.S. bomb near Kandahar, and a CIA agent died in a prison uprising in the northern town of Mazar-e-Sharif.

The three men earlier had been reported wounded during a minesweeping operation at the airport. But on Monday, Romley said they were part of an advance infantry party safeguarding the explosives-clearing teams behind them.

They were moving into an area that was outside the original perimeter Marines set up when they seized the abandoned airport on Friday.

Romley said they were believed to have been hurt by a plastic mine that had eluded discovery by an earlier sweep with detectors for metal mines.

Meanwhile, 13 loads of troops and materials were flown into the airport aboard C-130 transport planes during the night despite unusually heavy rains for this parched region of southern Afghanistan, said Lt. James Jarvis, another spokesman.

Jarvis said the Marines were expanding their security lines around the airport to the south and east. Local anti-Taliban forces were also helping to provide a security ring around the airport.

Under an early morning rainbow, Marines set up tents and equipment in the derelict airport, which had been stripped of its inventory since it was last used two years ago for commercial flights.

In front of the arched facade of the main airport terminal, Marines erected a huge tent under camouflage netting in less than an hour.

Navy Seabees and other construction units were preparing to repair runways bombed to asphalt pieces during the two-month U.S. air campaign against Kandahar, the base of Afghanistan's former Taliban rulers.

Jarvis said about one-third of the 10,000 feet of runways and taxiways were usable. Other areas remained blocked by debris or were deemed unsafe.

Jarvis said Marines remained on alert even though the airfield has been peaceful since it was seized by the U.S. troops.

"There is still a terrorism threat out there," he said. "But we hear that citizens have largely been friendly to U.S. forces."

APNP-12-17-01 0715CST