Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- An elite U.S. special forces team rescued an American doctor who had been abducted in Afghanistan, but lost one of their own members in the mission, officials said.
Dr. Dilip Joseph was freed 11 hours after his captors released two other kidnapped staffers of his nonprofit agency, Morning Star Development, the organization said Sunday.
Hours later, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced that "a U.S. service member was killed in the operation."
A U.S. official said the man who was shot dead belonged to the Navy's Special Warfare Development Group, more commonly known as SEAL Team Six. The elite unit is the same one that took part in the raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, but the official didn't know if the fallen service member was involved in that operation.
While he did not delve into detail, Panetta said, "the special operators who conducted this raid knew they were putting their lives on the line to free a fellow American from the enemy's grip."
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