Friendly Fire’ Strike Kills 5 Special Operations Soldiers in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan —
Five American Special Operations service members and at least one Afghan
soldier were killed when a United States Air Force B-1 bomber unleashed an
airstrike on their position in southern Afghanistan, in one of the deadliest
instances of friendly fire in more than a decade of war, Afghan and American
officials said Tuesday.
Investigators were
looking into possible causes, including faulty coordinates, an errant bomb or
other human error.
The Pentagon press
secretary, Rear Adm. John Kirby, said in a statement that five American
soldiers had been killed “during a security operation in southern Afghanistan.”
“Investigators are
looking into the likelihood that friendly fire was the cause,” he added. “Our
thoughts and prayers are with the families of these fallen.”
As the mission drew to
a close, Taliban militants ambushed the fighters, Mr. Roghliwanai said. The
troops called for air support, but were killed when the airstrike hit them.
Airstrikes have long
been a point of contention between the Afghan government and the coalition
forces, most often when they have caused civilian casualties.
Airstrikes that kill
coalition soldiers have been less common. Since the war began, there have been
more than a dozen cases in which airstrikes mistakenly killed allies, or when
gunfights erupted between coalition troops unaware they were firing on one
another. Among the most highly publicized was the fatal shooting of the former
National Football League player Pat Tillman, who was serving in an Army Ranger
unit when he was killed by coalition fire in April 2004.
More recently, Afghan
security forces have been the victims in such incidents, including an airstrike
in March that
killed five Afghan soldiers in eastern Logar Province. That is in large part
because there are fewer coalition soldiers fighting on the ground in
Afghanistan other than Special Operations forces.
The Taliban also
released a statement about the airstrike, confirming their role in the ambush
and claiming that their troops also ambushed a joint patrol in the Mizan
district of Zabul.
As in the first round
of the presidential election, in April, Afghan forces have stepped up
operations ahead of the runoff vote on Saturday. The military has a dozen
election-related missions underway across the country, meant to keep the
Taliban on their heels and to safeguard voting centers, according to the
Defense Ministry.
Zabul Province is an
especially challenging place to hold an election, with an unforgiving landscape
and a heavy insurgent presence. In Argandab District, just 183 ballots were
cast in the first round of voting, the second-smallest number of ballots of any
district in the entire province, according to tabulations by the National
Democratic Institute, an American-financed pro-democracy organization.
With the exception of
the recent Kabul attack on the convoy of the presidential front-runner,
Abdullah Abdullah, the insurgents seem to be focusing their efforts to disrupt
elections fight on more rural areas, where security is lighter or absent.
“This is Taliban’s
general tactic, increasing attacks in rural areas instead of in the cities,”
said Hajji Abdullah Barakzai, a member of the Afghan Parliament for Zabul
Province. “They know that our security forces are now very capable of
controlling the security situation in the cities, so they are targeting areas
where it is difficult for the security forces to reach and defeat them right
away.”
Perhaps the most
devastating example took place last month in a mountainous area of northern
Badakshan Province, where the Talibanoverran the
district center, capturing 27 police
officers alive and holding the government compound for nearly three days.
In the Charchino
district of Uruzgan Province, meanwhile, Afghan officials said the Taliban
marshaled hundreds of fighters to mount a coordinated assault on as many as 20
police checkpoints two days ago. After a long firefight, the Afghan forces were
reported to have lost five men, while the Taliban lost nearly two dozen, said
Dust Mohammad Nayaab, a spokesman for the provincial governor.
In another audacious
militant attack in southern Afghanistan, gunmen on Tuesday abducted a busload
of 35 teachers and students from Kandahar University who were traveling to
visit their families during a school holiday week. The bus was stopped in
Ghazni Province, where officials are scrambling to secure the release of the
captives.
“We have not yet being
contacted by any group who claims the arrests or kidnapping of the teachers,”
said Hazrat Mir Totakhail, the chancellor of Kandahar University. “However,
whoever is involved, we are asking them to free them, because the teachers are
not involved in politics and are not supporting any political group.”
The Taliban also
appeared confused about the incident. The insurgent group said they had no idea
about the detentions or the passengers’ whereabouts, and vowed to investigate.
“If our mujahedeen did
it, we will investigate who they are and what they are doing,” said the Taliban
spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid. “If they prove to be university students and
teachers, then we have no problem with them.”
He added: “Afghanistan
is full of teachers and students. It is not a crime.”
Taimoor Shah contributed
reporting from Kandahar, Afghanistan, and Eric Schmitt from Washington.
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