airstrike

Brig. Gen. Wilson Shoffner says in a statement issued Tuesday that "based on information we received today, we feel it is prudent to investigate the airstrike our forces conducted in Kandahar" on Sunday.

An Afghan official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release information, said Monday that a NATO airstrike the night before in neighboring Helmand province killed the 11 during an operation to arrest drug smugglers.

The officials say that Muhsin al-Fadhli is dead. He was a leader of the Khorasan Group, a cadre of al-Qaida operatives who were sent from Pakistan to Syria to plot attacks on the West. Officials say the Khorasan Group is embedded in the al-Nusra front, Syria's al-Qaida affiliate.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the operation.

The Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, expressed his "profound sorrow" over the tragedy and ordered an investigation into the killings.

The incident happened as coalition helicopters were flying over an area in Logar province where clashes were underway between Afghan troops and Taliban fighters, the Afghan Ministry of Defense said.

The rebels, known as Houthis, say the early Monday strike hit the Sawan neighborhood in eastern Sanaa.

Smoke billowed from the slum area, which lies hundreds of meters (yards) from a military camp used by the rebels.

Airstrikes and ground fighting in Yemen have continued for the third day despite a U.N.-brokered truce between the rebels and the internationally-backed government in exile and its allies.

More than 50 civilians were also wounded in the strike in Fayoush, a suburb just north of the southern port city of Aden, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information otherwise.

"I came right after the explosion and saw dozens of dead strewn about and a sea of blood, while the wounded were being evacuated to nearby hospitals," resident Abu-Ali al-Azibi said. "(There was) blood from people mixed with that of the sheep and other livestock at the market."

A senior U.S. official said that Tariq bin Tahar al-'Awni al-Harzi, a Tunisian, was killed by a U.S. drone strike and that there were no reports of any civilian casualties in the operation. It was not clear if anyone else was with al-Harzi or if other militants were killed or injured in the strike.

The official was not authorized to discuss the operation publicly so spoke on condition of anonymity.