Afghans say 7 police killed in US-led strike

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

JALALABAD, Afghanistan, June 12 (Reuters) - US-led forces in Afghanistan mistakenly killed seven policemen in an air strike after Afghan forces came under attack from the Taliban and asked for help, a provincial official said today.

Violence has surged in Afghanistan in recent months but a threatened Taliban offensive has not materialised. Last year was the bloodiest in Afghanistan since US-led forces removed the Taliban in 2001.

The air strike came after the Taliban stormed police posts late yesterday in Khogiani district of the eastern province of Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan, district police chief Adel Balwal told Reuters..

Police sent reinforcements and called for help from US forces, he said. ''In the coalition bombing, seven policemen lost their lives.'' A US military spokesman said he was aware of the raid but had no other details.

Thirteen policemen were missing, Balwal added.

If the deaths are confirmed, the incident would be one of the most serious cases of mistaken fire on Western or Afghan security forces by the U.S.-led coalition force.

A Taliban spokesman said by telephone from an undisclosed location the militants had killed 12 policemen.

About 50,000 foreign troops led by the U.S. military and NATO are in Afghanistan, battling a resurgent Taliban and their al Qaeda allies.

CIVILIANS SUFFERING: RED CROSS Separately, NATO forces killed three Afghans in the eastern province of Kunar yesterday after a car in which they were travelling failed to stop at a checkpoint, NATO said.

Two Afghans were wounded in the firing.

Residents of the area protested against the incident, the latest in a string of civilian casualties caused by foreign troops.

More than 120 Afghan civilians have been killed by foreign forces in recent months, according to government officials and residents.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said today that since 2006 violence had significantly intensified in the south and east and was spreading to the north and west, bringing a ''growing number of civilian casualties''.

''Civilians suffer horribly from mounting threats to their security, such as increasing numbers of roadside bombs and suicide attacks, and regular aerial bombing raids,'' Pierre Kraehenbuehl, director of ICRC operations, said in a statement.

Civilian casualties are particularly problematical for President Hamid Karzai, already facing widespread resentment among the public over Taliban attacks, lack of development and growing corruption.

Also yesterday, more than two dozen insurgents were killed in the southern province of Kandahar in an eight-hour battle that began when the militants ambushed against coalition and Afghan police, the US military said.

There were no casualties reported among civilians, it added, but did not say if the coalition forces suffered any losses.

REUTERS RKM KP1521

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