Afghan officials: US-led forces killed 9 police
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - July 20, 2008 In a separate incident, NATO said it accidentally killed at
least four Afghan civilians Saturday night. A NATO soldier also was
killed in the east.
The two cases of accidental killings could further undercut
popular support for the government and foreign forces operating
here. President Hamid Karzai has pleaded with the U.S. and other
nations fighting resurgent militants to avoid civilian casualties.
In the western province of Farah near the Iranian border, a
convoy of foreign forces showed up in Anar Dara district and
clashed with Afghan police, killing nine of them, said provincial
Deputy Governor Younus Rasuli.
He said the foreign troops had not informed local officials they
were coming, and the police thought they were enemy fighters. The
two sides fought from about midnight until 4 a.m. Sunday, and the
foreign forces used airstrikes, Rasuli said.
The U.S.-led coalition said it was investigating the report. It
said its forces, along with Afghan troops, had retaliated in
defense against "a non-uniformed hostile force."
"The combined patrol signaled their status as coalition forces,
but continued to receive fire," a military statement said.
"Coalition forces then returned small arms fire and engaged the
enemy with precision close air support."
In eastern Paktika province, NATO's International Security
Assistance Force said it killed at least four civilians Saturday
night when its troops fired two mortar rounds that landed nearly
half a mile short of their target. NATO said it was investigating
whether three other civilians also were killed in the Barmal
district.
"ISAF deeply regrets this accident, and an investigation as to
the exact circumstances of this tragic event is now under way,"
NATO said in a statement.
The alliance said it was providing medical aid to four civilians
who were wounded.
Also Sunday, a NATO soldier was killed during fighting in the
eastern Khost province, the alliance said in a statement. NATO did
not identify the soldier's nationality, but most of the troops in
that area are American.
Afghanistan faces intensifying militancy nearly seven years
after the U.S.-led invasion of the country ousted the hard-line
Islamic Taliban movement from power.
More than 2,500 people have died in insurgency-related violence
this year in the country, according to an Associated Press tally of
official figures. Most have been militants, but the total includes
hundreds of ordinary citizens.
NATO and the coalition insist they take great precautions to
avoid civilian casualties.
Commanders accuse insurgents of endangering innocent people by
launching attacks from residential areas and carrying out suicide
attacks that kill far more bystanders than security personnel.
In other violence, the Ministry of Defense said Afghan troops
battled insurgents in the southern Kandahar province Saturday,
killing 18 militants and injuring 25. They also detained 15.
In neighboring Zabul province, Afghan troops killed nine
militants and wounded seven, a ministry statement said.
Neither claim could be independently verified.
In the southern province of Helmand, a mine exploded Sunday
under a civilian vehicle in Gereshk district, killing three
children and wounding four people, said provincial police Chief
Mohammad Hussein Andiwal.
Andiwal accused Taliban militants of planting the mine on a road
frequently used by Afghan and foreign troops.
On Saturday, militants attacked a police checkpoint in the same
district but in the ensuing gunfight three Taliban fighters were
killed, Andiwal said. No police were injured in that clash, he
added.
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Associated Press writers Amir Shah and Noor Khan in Kandahar
contributed to this report.
