Three US soldiers who dies in Jordan on November 4 were working with the CIA to train militants fighting against the Syrian government, officials say.
The three were killed due to a “chain of unfortunate events,” the Chicago Tribune quoted a Middles Eastern official as saying in a Saturday report.
Identified as Staff Sgt. Matthew Lewellen, Staff Sgt. Kevin McEnroe and Staff Sgt. James Moriarty, the soldier were among the 2,000 troops the US claims is keeping in Jordan as part of the fight against Daesh terrorists in Syria and Iraq.
The Fort Campbell, Kentucky-based soldiers, who were members of the 5th Special Forces Group, were killed at an entry control point to Prince Faisal Air Base near Jafr, in the southern desert south of the capital Amman.
They were shot down by a Jordanian soldier, who was also wounded in the exchange of fire.
“Security was heightened at the time,” said the official, adding that investigators have found no proof of a deliberate attack.
The incident has been branded as the deadliest single incident involving a CIA team since December 2009, when seven Americans were killed in a suicide bombing in Khost, Afghanistan.
The US says it is fighting Daesh Takfiris at the head of a coalition, launching airstrikes against their hideouts in Syria and Iraq.
The US-led coalition has been accused of targeting Syrian forces at times while its airstrikes have done little to stop Daesh.
Daesh terrorists, who were among the militants initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, now control parts of Iraq and Syria. They are engaged in crimes against humanity in the areas under their control.
