Russia accidentally bombed American allies in Syria while U.S. troops were just 3 miles away

On Tuesday, a Russian aircraft accidentally bombed Syrian fighters who were being trained by the United States in the fight against the Islamic State, The New York Times reports. The American troops working with the Syrians were just three miles away when the bombing occurred.

The leader of the U.S.-backed task force, Lt. General Stephen Townsend, said he thought that the airstrike was a mix-up: "We had some Russian aircraft and regime aircraft bomb some villages that I believe they thought were held by ISIS," Townsend said. "Actually on the ground were some of our Syrian Arab coalition forces." He did not reveal how many people were killed in the attack, although he admitted there were casualties.

Russian planes also mistakenly bombed Turkish soldiers in January.

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