The United States is investigating allegations of civilian deaths after it conducted two airstrikes in northern Afghanistan said to have targeted a Taliban prison, weeks after President Obama authorized an expanded military role including close air support.

The strikes on Saturday killed at least 16 Taliban militants at a prison in the Chahar Dara district of Kunduz province, said Sayed Mohammed Danish, a spokesman for the governor of Kunduz. The Taliban retaliated by killing six Afghan hostages who were among 200 bus passengers abducted last month traveling to the north, Danish said. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed said a US drone strike was responsible for the prisoner deaths.

Obama this month broadened the US military mission in Afghanistan he had long hoped would be over by the end of the year, in a sign that peace negotiations in the war-torn nation have foundered. American forces, who had been aiding their Afghan counterparts in training and advising, were authorized to also accompany them on the ground and in the air.

Bloomberg News