WORLD / Asia-Pacific
US troops kill seven Afghan police
(AP)
Updated: 2007-06-12 15:08
KABUL, Afghanistan - US forces mistakenly killed seven Afghan police and
wounded four in an apparent friendly fire incident early Tuesday in
eastern Afghanistan, Afghan officials said.
The destroyed vehicles are seen at the site after a suicide car bombing
in Gurbuz district of Khost province east of Kabul, Afghanistan on
Monday, June 11, 2007. [AP]
Police manning a remote checkpoint in Nangarhar province said an American
convoy backed by helicopters approached and opened fire despite their
protests and calls for them to stop.
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"I thought they were Taliban, and we shouted at them to stop, but they
came closer and they opened fire," said Khan Mohammad, one of the
policemen at the post. "I'm very angry. We are here to protect the Afghan
government and help serve the Afghan government, but the Americans have
come to kill us."
The commander at the post, Esanullah, who goes by one name, said a
helicopter fired rockets, killing seven policemen and wounding four.
A spokeswoman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force said she
had no information that US forces that fall under ISAF's command were
involved. A spokesman for the separate US-led coalition said he was
looking into the report.
There were conflicting reports over how the fighting started.
Zurmai Khan, the Khogyani district chief, said fighting started just
before midnight Monday between Taliban militants and Afghan police, and
two hours into the battle US forces arrived and opened fire on the police.
However, Esanullah and Noragha Zowak, spokesman for the Nangarhar
governor, said no Taliban were involved in the incident.
Khan labeled the incident a "misunderstanding."
"Unfortunately the Americans and the Afghans, the two sides didn't know
it was the other," said Zowak.
Meanwhile, three Afghan civilians were killed and two wounded in the
eastern province of Kunar on Monday after a car drove through an ISAF
checkpoint and soldiers opened fire on it, ISAF said. The car drove
through the checkpoint despite the use of hand gestures and flashing
lights, ISAF said.
A roadside bomb attack 25 miles north of Kandahar city on Monday killed a
Canadian soldier. The soldier, identified as Trooper Darryl Caswell of
the Royal Canadian Dragoons, was the 57th Canadian soldier killed in
Afghanistan, the Canadian military said.
The death brings to at least 78 the number of soldiers killed in
Afghanistan this year, including at least 39 Americans.
Violence has spiked in Afghanistan in recent weeks. More than 2,300
people have died in insurgency-related violence this year, according to
an Associated Press count based on US, NATO and Afghan figures.
In the east, in Paktia province, Afghan police and US-led coalition
troops acting on a tip discovered rocket-propelled grenades, mortar
rounds and bomb-making materials hidden under two animal pens in an
Afghan home. Militants fired machine guns and RPGS at the troops when
they first entered the home, the coalition said in a statement.
The coalition said that local elders "vowed to track down" the bomb maker.
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