The shots that killed Pat Tillman, a professional football player who became a patriotic icon by giving up a US$3.6 million contract to become an Army Ranger following the Sept. 11 attacks, probably came from his fellow soldiers, military officials said on Saturday.
According to an Army investigation, Tillman was shot to death April 22 in Afghanistan after a US soldier mistakenly fired on a friendly Afghan soldier in Tillman's unit, and other US soldiers then fired in the same direction.
Initial reports by the Army had suggested that Tillman was killed by enemy gunfire when he led his team to help another group of ambushed soldiers.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Tillman was taking part in an operation with Afghan troops to root out Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters near the Pakistani border.
"While there was no one specific finding of fault, the investigation results indicate that Corporal Tillman probably died as a result of friendly fire while his unit was engaged in combat with enemy forces," Lieutenant-General Philip Kensinger Jr. said.
Kensinger said the firefight took place in "very severe and constricted terrain with impaired light" with 10 to 12 enemy combatants firing on US forces.
But an Afghan military official said on Saturday that Tillman died because of a "misunderstanding" when two mixed groups of American and Afghan soldiers began firing wildly in the confusion following a land-mine explosion.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the Afghan official said, "[There] were no enemy forces" present when Tillman died.
Kensinger, who heads Army Special Forces, took no questions from reporters Saturday. An Afghan Defense Ministry official declined to comment on whether enemy forces were present.
Tillman's family also had no comment on the Army report.
According to the Army's investigation, Tillman's team had split from a second unit when a Ranger whom the Army did not identify fired on a friendly Afghan soldier, mistaking him for the enemy.
Seeing that gunfire and not realizing its origin, other US soldiers fired in the same direction, killing Tillman and an Afghan soldier. Two other Rangers were wounded in the gunfight.
"The results of this investigation in no way diminished the bravery and sacrifice displayed by Corporal Tillman," Kensinger said.
Tillman, 27, left his position as a starting safety for the National Football League's Arizona Cardinals to join the Army following the 2001 attacks. He was posthumously promoted from specialist to corporal and awarded a Purple Heart and Silver Star, one of the military's highest honors, awarded for gallantry on the battlefield.
Thousands of people, including celebrities and politicians, attended a memorial service at the Cardinals' home stadium earlier this month.
Prior to Saturday, the Army had said that Tillman was killed after his platoon split into two sections for what officials called a ground assault convoy. Tillman was in charge of the lead group.
When the trailing group came under mortar and small-arms fire, the Army said, Tillman ordered his team to return. "Only after his team engaged the well-armed enemy did it appear their fires diminished," it said.
The Afghan official gave a differing account, based on his conversation with an Afghan fighter from the group that was separated from Tillman's. The Afghan soldier said the two groups drifted apart during the operation in the remote Spera district of Khost province, close to the Pakistani border.
"Suddenly the sound of a mine explosion was heard somewhere between the two groups and the Americans in one group started firing," the official said.
"Nobody knew what it was -- a mine, a remote-controlled bomb -- or what was going on, or if enemy forces were firing. The situation was very confusing," the official said.
"As the result of this firing, that American was killed and three Afghan soldiers were injured. It was a misunderstanding and afterwards they realized that it was a mine that had exploded and there were no enemy forces."
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