Three US special forces troops were killed and 19 injured in Afghanistan on Wednesday by an errant 2,000-pound (908-kg) "smart" bomb dropped by a US B-52 bomber north of the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, the Pentagon said.
Five anti-Taliban opposition soldiers operating with the elite American troops were also killed and a number of others injured in the accidental "friendly fire" incident after the US forces requested the air strike, defense officials said.
The Department of Defense originally put the death toll of Americans at two but at a later briefing said one of the injured in the attack had died on an aircraft en route to a medical facility outside of Afghanistan.
"Unfortunately the number of US forces killed is now three," said Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke. "As many (weapons) improvements as have been made, technology is not perfect."
The big bomb, normally guided to targets by pinpoint satellite positioning, struck about 100 yards (metres) from US and opposition troops as the high-flying, eight-engine jet tried to hit enemy Taliban troops who were firing mortars.
There was no indication how far that was from the aim point.
US officials said Hamid Karzai, the ethnic Pashtun tribal chief already chosen to lead an interim, post-Taliban government in Afghanistan, was also slightly injured by the bomb. He has been leading a struggle to chase the Taliban from their last stronghold in the southern Afghan city.
"We have heard that Karzai has been out, he's been visible, he seems to be doing fine," Clarke said.
It was the worst incident of friendly fire involving American troops since the US-led bombing campaign began in Afghanistan on Oct. 7 in response to the Sept. 11 hijacking attacks on the United States that killed nearly 4,000 people.
"I don't know what the intended target was," said Navy Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem, a senior officer at the Joint Staff. "It was being called on enemy troops."
The deaths were only the second, third and fourth American combat fatalities in Afghanistan. A CIA operative was killed earlier in fighting near Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan.
Five other US special forces personnel were accidentally injured in northern Afghanistan on Nov. 26 in a similar incident involving an errant US smart bomb. They later were awarded the Purple Heart medal for injuries in action.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said, "The president offers his condolences to the families and loved ones that have been affected by this morning's accident. He regrets the loss of life and wishes the injured a full and speedy recovery."
The names of the three US service members who were killed and 19 who were wounded were withheld pending notification of relatives. The American and anti-Taliban casualties were transferred by helicopter to a US Marine Corps airstrip base in the desert south of Kandahar.
Those requiring additional medical attention will be removed from the country, the Pentagon said.
The incident took place at about 12:30 a.m. EST (0530 GMT) when the B-52, flying in support of opposition forces, "dropped its ordnance in close proximity to friendly forces," the US military's Central Command said in a statement from its headquarters in Tampa, Florida.
"It was a 2,000-pound 'JDAM' bomb," US Army Lt. Col. Dan Stoneking told Reuters at the Pentagon.
(China Daily December 6, 2001)
