5 US troops killed in Afghanistan

The Washington Post reports that 5 US troops were killed in a supposedly friendly fire incident in the Kandahar Province of Afghanistan;

A team of Afghan and U.S. troops had been patrolling Arghandab District in an effort to provide a secure environment for the upcoming vote, provincial police chief Ghulam Sakhi Roghlewanai said in an interview. As the troops were getting ready to leave the area by helicopter, they came under attack from militants firing rockets and small arms, the police chief said.

Seeking to beat back the assault, the U.S. troops on the ground called in an airstrike. A munition dropped from a bomber aircraft appears to have killed the Americans, according to one official briefed on the preliminary investigation who was not allowed to speak on the record.

Lt. Col. Christopher Belcher, a U.S. military spokesman in Kabul, said he could not release details about the deaths. A statement on the incident issued Tuesday morning by the U.S.-led military coalition said: “The casualties occurred during a security operation when their unit came into contact with enemy forces. Tragically, there is the possibility that fratricide may have been involved.”

The Post continues that one Afghan was killed, too.

Category: Terror War