US army kills 9 Afghan soldiers by mistake
A US-led coalition airstrike mistakenly hit an Afghan army checkpoint yesterday, killing nine soldiers and wounding three, Afghan officials said.
The strike hit a checkpoint in the Sayed Kheil area of Khost province in eastern Afghanistan, said Arsallah Jamal, the province's governor.
The US said its forces "may have mistakenly killed and injured" Afghan soldiers in what may have been a case of mistaken identity "on both sides."
"As a Coalition forces convoy was returning from a previous operation, they were involved in multiple engagements," a U.S. military statement said. "As a result of the engagements, ANA (Afghan army) soldiers were killed and injured."
Apparent friendly fire incidents have happened before. In June 2007, Afghan police mistook US troops on a nighttime mission for Taliban fighters and opened fire on them, prompting US forces to return fire and call in attack aircraft. Seven Afghan police were killed.
Meanwhile about 35 Taliban militants and three police were killed after about 100 insurgents attacked a district centre in southern Afghanistan, a provincial police chief said yesterday.
Heavy fighting started late Tuesday and lasted into early Wednesday after the rebels launched the attack in troubled Uruzgan province, police chief Juma Gul Hemat told AFP.
"More than 100 Taliban launched an attack to capture the district of Dih Rahwud. Our police bravely resisted and killed 35 Taliban whose bodies are left in the area," Hemat said.
"Three of our policemen were also martyred and nine others were injured in the fighting," he said.
International military war planes were called in to help the Afghan forces, he said. US and NATO forces in Afghanistan could not immediately confirm their involvement.
The Taliban were in government between 1996 and 2001 and are fighting to take back power from the US-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.
The insurgency has picked up pace in the past three years, despite the presence of about 60,000 international troops helping Afghan forces to face a rebellion that Afghan officials say is now supported by militants arriving from Iraq.
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