Kabul: Air strikes by the Nato-led force in Afghanistan accidentally killed at least three Afghan policemen in the country's north and a woman and two children in the west, officials said yesterday.
Sensitivities about civilian casualties and "friendly fire" incidents have been running high as violence spreads across Afghanistan, reaching its worst levels since the Taliban were ousted in late 2001.
With military deaths also reaching record levels, the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said four of its troops had been killed in attacks in the south, the heartland of the Taliban, yesterday and on Friday.
Civilian casualties have been a major irritant between Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government and foreign forces fighting in Afghanistan, leading to a major falling-out last year.
Tactical directives were tightened twice in the past year as a result, as US and Nato commanders sought to limit the damaging fallout from such incidents. The directives laid down tight rules governing the use of air strikes and home searches.
ISAF said Afghan security forces came under fire from insurgents in multiple locations in Jawzjan province on Friday and that the Afghan forces had requested air support.
Two helicopters then fired a Hellfire missile and 30mm rounds at the insurgents, it said.
"During a subsequent battle-damage assessment, it was discovered three Afghan National Police were accidentally killed and several more wounded during the air weapons team engagement," ISAF said in a statement.
Mohammad Rahimi, a district chief from Darz Aab in Jawzjan, said Afghan forces asked for Nato help when they were attacked by about 400 Taliban fighters.
In Farah province, Afghan and ISAF forces hunting a Taliban fighter followed a vehicle carrying several armed insurgents to a compound in a remote district.
Six insurgents were killed in an ensuing gunbattle and an air strike was called in, which hit the vehicle they had been driving in.
ISAF said the vehicle, which may have been full of home-made explosives, blew up and that a woman and two children were later found dead at the scene.
Attacks: Six policemen found dead
Six Afghan policemen were found dead yesterday in their station house in southern Afghanistan. The bodies of the six policemen, who were shot, were found in Greskh district of southern Helmand province, said Dawood Ahmadi, a provincial spokesman. It wasn't immediately clear who shot them, but insurgents fighting back against Nato forces also are targeting anyone who supports the coalition or the Afghan government.
In neighbouring Kandahar province, another police station was attacked on Friday in Kandahar city, according to the governor's office. Two insurgents were killed, but there were no police casualties.
— AP
