Vehicles are stopped by security personnel as they enter a gate to Camp Edwards, Mass., on Cape Cod, Monday, Sept. 22, 2014 (Photo: AP)
Three Afghan army officers have gone missing during a training exercise at a US military base in Massachusetts, prompting a search by local authorities, the Pentagon said Monday.
The reason for their disappearance remained unclear but the three soldiers from the Afghan National Army (ANA) were last seen at a mall in Hyannis, where they were on an outing with fellow Afghan troops, a Pentagon spokesman told reporters.
It was the second time in a week that Afghan soldiers attending a course in the United States went missing.
A week ago, two Afghan soldiers training at the Quantico base in Virginia were unaccounted for until they were located two days later in the Georgetown district of Washington DC, officials said.
The three ANA officers who disappeared Saturday were taking part in "Exercise Regional Cooperation 2014," a drill sponsored by US Central Command (Centcom), which oversees American forces in the Middle East and Afghanistan.
The exercise, which involves officers from six countries, was scheduled to run September 17 to September 24. The course is conducted indoors as a "table top" drill that requires officers to rehearse how they would respond to various simulated scenarios.
"Three ANA soldiers participating in a Centcom exercise this week at Joint Base Cape Cod were reported missing by base security personnel late Saturday," Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steven Warren said.
"They were out touring the Cape Cod area," Warren said.
But he added: "There is no indication that they pose any threat to the public."
Before being allowed to attend the training, the Afghans were thoroughly vetted by government agencies, including the US embassy in Kabul and American forces in Afghanistan, according to Warren.
NATO's US-led force in Afghanistan has had to beef up security in recent years after a series of insider attacks, with Afghan soldiers turning their guns on their US and NATO partners. A US major general was killed by an Afghan in an army uniform last month in Kabul.
The three officers who went missing Saturday were part of a group of 14 Afghans attending the training.
The circumstances of their disappearance remained uncertain. Warren said foreign officers taking part in such exercises are permitted to leave the base but usually have US officers escort them.
It was not the first time foreign soldiers were unaccounted for during a drill in the United States, Warren said.
"These things have happened in the past."
In the case earlier this month involving two Afghans on a Homeland Security Department exercise, the two "were missing for a couple of days," he said.
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