BEAVER, Ohio (AP) – A cousin says a 25-year-old soldier from southern Ohio was one of five American troops killed this week during an airstrike in southern Afghanistan.
Mindy Helton says military representatives visited Justin Helton’s parents’ home in Beaver early Tuesday to inform them of his death.
If an investigation determines the deaths were the result of “friendly fire,” it would be one of the worst friendly-fire incidents involving U.S. and coalition forces since the start of the war there.
A senior police official in the province says the soldiers were in a joint operation with Afghan forces when they came under attack from the Taliban and called in air support.
Mindy Helton is Justin Helton’s cousin by marriage. She says his immediate family isn’t commenting publicly.
She says the soldier specialized in dealing with explosives and was based out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina. She says he had been in Afghanistan about two months and was engaged to be married.
She says he had been in the Army since 2010.