Lejay, Afghanistan
Lejay, Afghanistan is a small village in Helmand Province. Taliban ambush. Taliban forces in this village executed an ambush on a U.S. Special Forces Reconnaissance element, consisting of seven Green Beret detachments (A-Teams), on February 10, 2003. The subsequent battle, initiated by the ambush, lasted for 43 hours. During this engagement, a multitude of munitions were dropped by CAS (Close Air Support) ranging from 500 lbs to 2000 lbs. Several of the Green Berets received shrapnel and grazing wounds, but none were evacuated from the area. At least 43 Taliban insurgents were killed during the engagement. The  Americans rounded up dozens of prisoners following the battle. By one account, the Americans rounded up 70 Afghans. Another account said they rounded up 40 Afghans. According to the evidence produced at the Combatant Status Review Tribunals, some of the prisoners were sent to the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp, in Cuba. Press reports of the military action in the neighborhood of Lejay. Coalition forces conducted an aerial campaign against the neighborhood of Lejay. Haji Pir Mohammad, the deputy governor of Helmand, led a six-man investigative team to the region, to investigate villager's reports of a massive American aerial  bombardment. Colonel Roger King, a US military spokesman, told reporters that the US Special Forces hunting the ambushers believed they were hunting between thirty and one hundred fighters. He informed reporters that American troops had found ammunition casings and empty rocket tubes. He called the reports of civilian casualties "unsupported". He stated that the US aerial bombardment had been confined to caves, and the ridgeline east and west of Lejay. Press reports of the scale of the bombardment King reported were inconsistent.