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Three
U.S. Soldiers Killed, 20 Wounded in "Friendly Fire" Incident Near Kandahar
WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) -
U.S. President George W. Bush on Wednesday offered his condolences to families of
three U.S. Special Forces soldiers killed in Afghanistan Wednesday.
The second, third and fourth confirmed U.S. combat-related deaths of the conflict occurred near the southern city of Kandahar, when a B-52 bomber dropped a 2,000-pound bomb too close to them, according to U.S. officials. Twenty more U.S. troops were also injured in the same incident. No information was released on the medical condition of the wounded.
"The president offers his condolences to the families and loved ones who were affected by this morning's accident. He regrets the loss of life and wishes the injured a full and speedy recovery," said Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer.
The U.S. Central Command said an unidentified number of Afghan opposition fighters were also killed and wounded in the bomb explosion.
The casualties - both Afghan and American - were being evacuated to the Marines Forward Operating Base Rhino, south of Kandahar, for initial medical treatment, said Victoria Clarke, the Pentagon's chief spokesperson.
"Our thoughts and prayers are going out to them and to their family," said Clarke. "Every single day there are men and women who are willing to put their necks on the line, and put themselves in great danger and we appreciate what they do."
The satellite-guided bomb missed its target, landing too close to the American and opposition forces, said Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Martin, a spokesman for the command.
Afghan opposition forces operating north of Kandahar belong to Hamid Karzai, a Pashtun leader chosen to head an interim Afghan government, said Clarke. She had no information on a report that Karzai was among the Afghans injured.
The deaths of the three American soldiers brought to four the number of U.S. combat deaths in Afghanistan after the killing of a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operative in a prison riot near Mazar-e-Sharif late last month.
Two other U.S. service members were killed in a helicopter crash in Pakistan October 20 while on stand-by during a U.S. commando raid into southern Afghanistan.
In a previous "friendly fire" incident, a 500-pound bomb wounded five U.S. troops during fighting November 25 to quell a prison revolt at Mazar-e-Sharif.
Meanwhile, anti-Taliban Afghan militia backed by tanks and a U.S. B-52 bomber attacked positions held by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda fighters Wednesday at the Tora Bora cave complex in eastern Afghanistan.
The attack, witnessed by an Agence France-Presse (AFP) correspondent, came as local commanders announced a major offensive against the al-Qaeda and U.S. warplanes continued to pound the area in the hunt for the alleged mastermind of the deadly September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
Officials of the eastern Nangarhar province have already said that an air strike Monday devastated the al-Qaeda leadership, killing at least 10 officials and wounding bin Laden's top deputy. There was no independent confirmation.
In Nangarhar, local commanders were bent on cleaning out the Tora Bora complex, an elaborate warren of caves and tunnels where they said bin Laden could be hiding along with some 1,000 fighters, mostly Arabs.
Jalalabad police chief Hazrat Ali told the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) that a local militia force of around 2,000 soldiers was prepared to attack the Arabs hiding in the hills and forests near the border with Pakistan.
A local commander, Sohrab Khan, said his troops controlled half of the mountainous region where bin Laden was believed to be holed up. He said fighting with al-Qaeda forces was continuing.
From a hillside near the village of Tora Bora, three old Soviet-made T-55 tanks were seen shelling al-Qaeda positions in the snow-capped mountains about 1.2 miles (two kilometers) away.
Lower down, Khan's forces exchanged artillery fire with the foreign fighters of al-Qaeda. A B-52 bomber made several runs over the area, dropping two bombs on al-Qaeda positions on the mountainside, which sent huge plumes of smoke into the clear skies.
Another local commander said by radio that his troops had captured one of the tanks belonging to bin Laden's forces. Khan said al-Qaeda also had rocket launchers, and small and large-caliber mortars.
Ali, whose forces were participating in the offensive, said the al-Qaeda fighters were dug in around the district of Melawa, six miles (ten kilometers) north of Tora Bora.
This was the same district where a U.S. air strike early Monday might have dealt a crushing blow to al-Qaeda's leadership.
Ali said 10 al-Qaeda officials had died in the raid on the village of Wouchnow.
Nangarhar military commander Haji Mohammad Zaman said that 18 people had been killed in the attack, including bin Laden's financial manager Ali Mahmud.
Zaman said Ayman al-Zawahri, the number two man in al-Qaeda who is believed by some to be the real brains behind the network, was wounded and possibly killed by the U.S. bombs.
NBC television news quoted U.S. officials as saying that they had no word on Zawahri falling victim to U.S. bombs, but they believed his wife, a son and three daughters were killed.
There was no report of bin Laden being hit in the attack.
The loss of Mahmud and particularly Zawahri, a doctor who founded the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, would be a severe blow to al-Qaeda after the death last month of its military commander, Mohammad Atef, in an air strike near Kabul.
The reports also appeared to lend credibility to Zaman's claim that bin Laden was hiding somewhere around the Tora Bora cave complex where the U.S. search has focused and some U.S. special forces were deployed.
The area lies about 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province, a known stomping ground for Saudi-born bin Laden before he went underground after the September 11 attacks.
A standoff continued around Kandahar after the Taliban pushed back a bid by opposition forces to advance on the local airport earlier this week.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said there was no immediate plan to use U.S. ground troops for an assault on Kandahar. Officials said their main task would be to block escape routes for fleeing Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters.
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