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 American war aircraft and remotely piloted drones still carry out
strikes in Afghanistan, targeting Taliban and other militants even
after most foreign forces withdrew at the end of last year.
If proven, the incident would be one of the deadliest recent
instances of "friendly fire", after at least eight Afghan soldiers
were killed by a U.S. airstrike in July in Logar province, south of
the capital, Kabul.
Afghan officials initially said last week's airstrike took place in
the southern province of Helmand, but later reports showed the elite
police team was operating in the neighboring province of Kandahar.
"We feel it is prudent to investigate the airstrike our forces
conducted in Kandahar," a U.S. military spokesman, Brigadier General
Wilson Shoffner, said in a statement on Tuesday.
Four counter narcotics police were also wounded in the incident and
one was still missing, according to an interior ministry report. The
strike set ablaze four landcruisers, destroying equipment and
weapons on board.
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The U.S. military said an American officer now serving in
Afghanistan would lead the investigation.
(Reporting by Jessica Donati; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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