WASHINGTON - US forces failed to follow procedures in carrying out deadly air strikes last month in western Afghanistan in an incident that killed dozens of civilians, the Pentagon said on Monday.
"There were some problems with tactics, techniques and procedures, the way in which close air support was supposed to have been executed in this case," press secretary Geoff Morrell told a news conference.
The report ordered by US Central Command examined US bombing raids in a May 4 incident in the western Farah province that the Kabul government says claimed 140 civilian lives.
The probe found that a B-1 bomber involved in the incident lost contact with its intended target temporarily, Morrell said.
"That plane, because of how it takes its bombing routes, had to break away from positive identification of their target at one point to make its elongated approach," he said.
That finding on the B-1 aircraft was "the fundamental complaint that was rendered I believe from this investigation."
The investigation's findings were presented to Defence Secretary Robert Gates earlier Monday in an hour-long briefing, Morrell said.
Civilian casualties -- often from US air power -- have caused public outrage in Afghanistan and tensions with the Kabul government, with US and Western officials worried about handing propaganda victories to the Taliban.
The officer chosen to lead US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Lieutenant General Stanley McChrystal, warned at a congressional hearing last week that the war against insurgents could be lost unless civilian casualties were reduced.
AFP