Two contractors working for the CIA were killed in an ambush in Afghanistan, the agency said in Washington tonight.
Mr William Carlson (43) and Mr Christopher Glenn Mueller (32) were "tracking terrorists operating in the region" of Shkin, a village in eastern Afghanistan, when they were killed on Saturday, the CIA said in a statement.
Both were veterans of military special operations forces, the CIA said.
They are the third and fourth CIA operatives that the agency has acknowledged killed in the line of duty since the September 11th attacks.
The first, paramilitary officer Mr Johnny Micheal Spann, was killed during an uprising of Taliban and al Qaida prisoners in northern Afghanistan on November 25th, 2001.
The second, Helge Boes, died in a training accident in eastern Afghanistan, on February 5th, 2003.
The agency did not provide particulars on the ambush or the two operatives' mission.
The region they were operating in is part of the remote mountainous region along the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan, where Osama bin Laden is thought to be hiding. It is also a stronghold for al Qaida, Taliban and other anti-US fighters.
AP