A Royal Marine and an Army medic who died after being injured in Afghanistan were not killed by British forces, the Ministry of Defence has said.
It follows a preliminary investigation into the deaths Cpl David O'Connor, 27, of 40 Commando, and Cpl Channing Day, 25, of 3 Medical Regiment.
They may have been shot by someone in an Afghan police uniform, the MoD said.
They were fatally injured on Wednesday in a firefight while on patrol in Helmand province.
They came under fire near the village of Char Kutsa, in the Nahr-e Saraj district.
An Afghan man is also reported to have died in the incident.
Cpl O'Connor was from Havant, in Hampshire, and Cpl Day was from Comber, in County Down.
The MoD says its analysis of the deaths is continuing.
'Terrible tragedy'It says a preliminary investigation went against Afghan police claims that the pair were shot by their own comrades.
The initial review at the scene, carried out by Nato specialists and Afghan government representatives, concluded the shooting was not a "friendly fire" incident involving British forces, it added.
Instead the shooting is said to have been was caused by what the MoD calls "a third party or parties whose identities have yet to be established but who are not UK personnel".
Afghan officials had said that the British patrol had shot dead an off-duty Afghan policeman who was not in uniform but was carrying a weapon as he washed in a stream - mistaking him for an insurgent.
Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said the deaths were "a terrible tragedy in Afghanistan".
He went on: "The circumstances are not entirely clear, there is an investigation ongoing. We know there were three people dead, one of them wearing civilian clothes.
"It is not absolutely clear as yet exactly what did happen and that investigation will continue until we find out exactly what happened."
Parallel investigationAsked if it was another so-called green on blue attack - where Afghans turn on their Isaf partners - Mr Hammond said: "There is a possibility that that is what has happened but it is not clear at this stage who the shooter actually was."
BBC defence correspondent Caroline Wyatt said it was not yet clear who fired first or why.
The MoD says, "Further investigation into the involvement or otherwise of the dead Afghan male is ongoing."
It adds that its analysis is likely to take some time while forensic and other tests are carried out.
A parallel Royal Military Police investigation is also being conducted.
Cpl O'Connor was deployed to Afghanistan at the end of September as a section commander in the acting rank of corporal.
Cpl Day, who joined the Army in 2005 and was deployed to Afghanistan on 2 October, was the third British female to have died while serving in Afghanistan since 2001.
A total of 435 British military personnel have been killed in Afghanistan since operations started in 2001.
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