US troops kill four Afghan police with “friendly fire”

KABUL (Reuters) – U.S. troops killed four Afghan policemen
and wounded another after mistaking them for militants during
an operation in southern Afghanistan in which two Afghan
soldiers died, officials said on Friday.

The incident happened on Thursday in Helmand province’s
Girishk district when U.S. troops spotted a vehicle carrying
five armed men approaching an area where they were in contact
with militants, said U.S. spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jerry
O’Hara.

He said the police officers had not been in the uniform of
the Afghan National Police and the vehicle had tried to drive
away quickly.

“Coalition forces shot at the vehicle, killing four and
wounding one,” he said. “We are conducting an investigation. Of
course we regret this incident.”

A senior police officer in Helmand, Haji Mohammad Rahim,
said the friendly fire incident occurred after Taliban
guerrillas attacked a convoy of U.S. and Afghan troops in the
same district, killing two Afghan soldiers.

The news came on the fourth anniversary of the start of the
U.S. intervention that overthrew the Taliban government in late
2001 and amid stepped up violence after the guerrillas failed
in their vow to derail September 18 legislative elections.

More than 1,000 people — most of them militants, but
including more than 50 U.S. soldiers — have been killed in
Afghanistan this year, the bloodiest period since 2001.