Afghans probe US mistaken airstrike of Afghan army base

Authorities are investigating an errant US bombing of an Afghan military base in the country's south that killed at least five Afghan troops, a lawmaker said Thursday.

The soldiers were killed by friendly fire Wednesday in what was supposed to be a precision airstrike by US forces supporting Afghan soldiers battling insurgents near the city of Tarin Kot in Uruzgan province.

The Defense Ministry earlier said the fatalities were the result of a miscommunication between Afghan troops on the ground and forces in the air, without providing details.

Lawmaker Obaidullah Barikzai from Uruzgan province told The Associated Press that Afghan soldiers inside the base in Tarin Kot believed a darkened convoy approaching the base was the Taliban not US and Afghan forces and opened fire, invoking a blistering retaliation.

The Taliban often travel in convoys with no vehicle lights on, Barikzai said.

A US airstrike was called in to aid the under-fire convoy, he added. It hit the Afghan army base, barely 4 kilometers from the governor's house and the shootout continued for hours as residents hunkered inside their homes.

The U.S. military said Wednesday it responded to incoming fire on Afghan and US forces on the ground and attempted to come to their defense by conducting a precision
"The show of concern and sadness about human rights by such a criminal state is preposterous and comical."