Five American troops with a special operations unit were killed by a United States airstrike called in to help them after they were ambushed by the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, according to The Associated Press.
The men died on Monday in Zabul province's Arghandab district when their unit, part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, clashed with insurgents, according to the AP.
Local police chief Ghulam Sakhi Roghlewanai said: "The five killed were American soldiers who just returned from an operation when they were hit, the AP reported.
"ISAF troops were returning to their bases after an operation when they were ambushed by the insurgents, but the air strike mistakenly hit their own forces and killed the soldiers," according to the AP.
A Pentagon statement said investigators were "looking into the likelihood that friendly fire was the cause. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of these fallen," the AP reported.
A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, said a battle took place between foreign troops and Taliban fighters in the Arghandab district, and a "huge number" of NATO soldiers were killed or wounded in the fighting, but the Taliban often exaggerate their claims, according to the AP.
Taliban insurgents, meanwhile, kidnapped 35 professors from Kandahar University after stopping their van on the highway linking the southern province and Kabul, a spokesman for provincial governor said, the AP reported.
"The professors were on their way to the capital when they were abducted and tribal elders are now involved in negotiating with the Taliban," Dawa Khan Minapal said by telephone, according to the AP.
Of the 30,000 or so U.S. troops left in Afghanistan, special operations forces are among the only ones that are active on the battlefield, mentoring and advising Afghan commandos during raids, the AP reported.
