Friendly fire may have killed 2 U.S. Army Rangers in Afghanistan
WASHINGTON _ The U.S. military is investigating whether friendly fire killed two Army Rangers during an operation this week to seize an Islamic State leader in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said Friday.
There are "some initial indications" that either fellow U.S. troops or Afghan forces fighting with them may have struck the two soldiers by accident in a battle with Islamic State militants early Thursday, Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis said.
He said there were "no indications it was (an) intentional" attack by Afghan partners _ a frequent cause in recent years of casualties among Western forces.
"War is a very difficult thing. In the heat of battle, in the fog of war, the possibility always exists for friendly fire, and that may have been what happened here," he said.
Davis said that the families of the two Rangers had been notified that they may have died from friendly fire.
The Rangers killed were Sgts. Cameron Thomas, 23, of Kettering, Ohio, and Joshua Rodgers, 22, of Bloomington, Ill. A third U.S. service member was wounded in the head. This month, Army Staff Sgt. Mark De Alencar, 37, of Edgewood, Md., was killed by small-arms fire in the same province.
_McClatchy Washington Bureau
