U.S. friendly fire kills 3 allies

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan -- U.S. special forces have killed three Afghan allies in a friendly fire incident in eastern Afghanistan.

The troops mistook a group of allies for al Qaeda fighters and opened fire, a U.S. army spokesman told CNN on Saturday.

The shooting took place the day before in a region where U.S. and British troops are hunting for remnants of the Taliban and al Qaeda fighters.

U.S. army spokesman Colonel Roger King said U.S. special forces accompanied by Afghan military officials were not aware of the presence of the Afghan allies in a compound where al Qaeda and Taliban leaders were believed to be meeting.

King later said: "As the U.S. and Afghan military forces neared the compound, they observed several armed men in the compound moving into fighting positions. They were armed with AK-47s."

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A few minutes later, a special forces' element saw 10 to 12 additional armed men moving towards them in what appeared to be a flanking manoeuvre, he said.

One of the men pointed a rocket-propelled grenade at the U.S. forces.

"The element commander perceived... an imminent threat to his element and ordered his unit to open fire. The ensuing firefight... resulted in the death of three men, wounding two," King said.

Seventeen other people in the compound laid down their weapons.

Two Afghans were wounded in the shooting in Khomar Kalay village near the city of Gardez, capital of Paktia province, and are being treated at an allied hospital, he told The Associated Press.

King said there was a report that one of the men in the armed group had shouted they were there to kill al Qaeda, which apparently had been ignored.

He added: "The review of this action continues and efforts will be made to place coordination measures to prevent similar occurrences in the future."

U.S. forces launched an offensive in Afghanistan in October to flush out Osama bin Laden, leader of the al Qaeda network and prime suspect in the September 11 attacks in the United States, and punish his Taliban protectors.

There has been a string of complaints from Afghans that U.S. forces have mistakenly hit the wrong targets, killing scores of people, in both air and ground attacks, AP said.

The mis-hits have included an attack on a large convoy travelling to the inauguration of the U.N.-backed interim government in December and a botched raid in the south in January in which 16 innocent people were killed.

Fighters of the Taliban, forced from their last main strongholds in December, and their al Qaeda allies have not been seen in large numbers since March, when U.S.-led troops took on several hundred in a remote eastern valley.