Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan-- More than 25 members of international and Afghan security forces were injured Friday in firefights in northwestern Afghanistan during a large-scale manhunt for two missing American soldiers, military officials said.

The two paratroopers with the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, disappeared Wednesday during a routine resupply mission, the military said in a statement.

The military provided no further details on the disappearances, and neither NATO forces nor Afghan officials immediately explained how the clashes broke out, nor did they provide a breakdown of the casualties.

U.S. Army Col. Wayne Shanks, a spokesman, said only that the injuries had occurred in "direct engagements with enemy forces in the area."

Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman reached by telephone, said the militants ambushed the joint force in the district where the soldiers disappeared and fighting continued throughout the day. Ahmadi said three Taliban insurgents were killed in the clashes.