Army looks into killing of two Rangers

Afghanistan raid probe to see whether friendly fire to blame

The Army has launched an investigation into the deaths of two elite Army Rangers in Afghanistan early Thursday, saying they may have been killed in a friendly-fire incident during a three-hour firefight with Islamic State militants.

Sgt. Joshua Rodgers, 22, and Sgt. Cameron Thomas, 23, died during a nighttime raid in Nangarhar province, the Pentagon said Friday. They were members of 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, a force that specializes in raid operations.

Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said the U.S. military is investigating to see whether they were accidentally killed by ground fire from Afghan commandos or other U.S. forces. He said the deaths did not appear deliberate.

U.S. Forces Afghanistan said in a statement Friday that the operation began about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday and included two platoons of Rangers and a similar number of Afghan commandos. They came under fire within minutes of their helicopters landing from “multiple directions and well-prepared fighting positions.”

U.S. and Afghan forces nonetheless closed on their targets and killed several high-level leaders from the Islamic State’s affiliate in Afghanistan and up to 35 fighters, U.S. military officials said.

“Based on reports from forces on the ground, the engagement was close-quarters from multiple compounds,” the U.S. military’s statement said. “Air strikes were used in self-defense to enable our operations and to medically evacuate the wounded Rangers. We do not have any indication there were civilian casualties as a result of this operation.”

According to Davis, the head of the Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan, Abdul Haseeb Logari, was the target of the Wednesday raid. He said officials suspect that Logari, the emir of what’s called the Islamic State Khorasan group, was among several key leaders killed, but haven’t confirmed that. Logari was in charge of the Afghanistan affiliate’s command and control and it’s connections with the broader Islamic State group and it’s leaders.

“This was a dangerous mission and we knew this going in,” Davis told Pentagon reporters. “This was the leader of ISIS in Afghanistan. We knew that he was going to be well-protected and that they were going to fight very hard to prevent him from being captured or killed. And that is indeed what happened.”

About 50 Army Rangers and 40 Afghan commandos were dropped off by helicopter for the raid in Nangarhar province’s Mohmand Valley. They were on the ground for about 4½ hours.

“Within minutes of the insertion the combined force came under intense fire from multiple directions. It was during these initial moments of the raid that the two Rangers were mortally wounded,” Davis said. He added that the U.S. and Afghan troops were being fired on from prepared positions on all sides, and that the compound was heavily fortified and contained a network of tunnels.

Davis said manned and unmanned aircraft, including AC-130 gunships, Apache helicopters and F-16 fighter jets, were used to support the raid and provide airstrikes to defend the force on the ground and evacuate the wounded.

The military headquarters in Kabul said in a statement that the U.S. and Afghan forces were able to accomplish the mission without civilian casualties, including women and children in the compound.

Separately, the Afghan Taliban announced Friday as the beginning of their spring offensive, promising to build their political base in the country while focusing military assaults on the international coalition and Afghan security forces.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid announced the launch of the offensive in an emailed statement that boasted of Taliban control over more than half of the country, referring to a February report issued by Washington’s special inspector general for Afghan reconstruction.

The Taliban dubbed this year’s offensive Operation Mansouri, named for the Taliban leader killed last year in a U.S. drone strike.