U.S. military officials say the first U.S. soldier killed in Afghanistan may have been a so-called "friendly fire" casualty. 

U.S. General Tommy Franks says Army Chief Warrant Officer Stanley Harriman may have been killed by fire from a U.S. gunship flying in the Shah-i-Kot area on March the second and not by enemy forces as initially reported. 

The case is one of several the U.S. military is investigating in which U.S. forces may have mistakenly chosen a target. Another incident involved a raid on two suspected enemy compounds in January, in which U.S. troops killed 16 and captured 27 who later turned out to be neither al-Qaida terrorists nor Taleban members. The 27 were later released. 

The investigation concluded that there was no targeting error, but that the intelligence was faulty. 

General Franks says it is impossible to eradicate the loss of innocent lives in warfare. He also says coalition forces have flown over 35,000 missions since U.S.-led military operations against terrorism began in Afghanistan. 

Meanwhile, U.S. officials are indicating there was American involvement in a series of raids in Pakistan this week on suspected al-Qaida hideouts there. Up to 60 arrests have been reported in those raids. 

Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.

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