The US Army has launched a new investigation into the tragic death of a US professional football star who turned down a lucrative sports career to fight the war on terror as a soldier, a military official disclosed late on Monday.

Army Ranger Pat Tillman, 27, was killed in southeastern Afghanistan last April, in what was initially described by his superiors as a shootout with Taliban guerrillas who had attacked his convoy.

But it was a lie, and Tillman had actually been a victim of fratricide, or "friendly fire."

A subsequent probe determined that Tillman, who gained national hero status when he forswore a US$3.6 million National Football League contract as a safety with the Arizona Cardinals to join the US special forces for US$18,000 a year in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks, fell victim of Rangers from his own unit. They had mistakenly machine-gunned Tillman and an Afghan militiaman after becoming separated from them on the confusing battlefield.

Independent probes undertaken in the intervening months by two leading US newspapers have shown the tragic episode could have been the result of outright negligence on the part of Tillman's superiors.

"Because of concerns and questions that the Tillman family had, the Army started a new investigation into this matter," said Sergeant Kyle Cosner, a spokesman for the Army Special Operations Command.

He said the probe had been ordered on November 3 by then-Army Secretary Les Brownlee and has been under way for more than a month.

Investigators from the command will again talk to members of Tillman's former unit "and beyond that," Cosner said, while declining to give any indication if criminal charges are pending.

"It's safe for everyone to assume that the investigation will encompass both the United States and Afghanistan," he added.

But he resolutely denied that the new probe had anything to do with journalists digging into the matter.

Media investigations, however, have raised serious questions about the adequacy of Army reconnaissance and decisions made by some of the commanders.

The Los Angeles Times, for instance, quoted Afghan militia commanders as expressing doubt the Ranger unit was under rebel attack to begin with.

The commanders said one team of Rangers had likely mistaken a landmine explosion for an attack and began uncontrollably strafing a canyon where Tillman and other US soldiers were, the newspaper report points out.

Meanwhile, The Washington Post quoted a confidential Army document questioning the wisdom of a commander's decision to split Corporal Tillman's platoon into two teams, saying it had "contributed to the eventual breakdown in internal platoon communications."

(China Daily December 8, 2004)