NATO air strike kills Afghan police, civilians: officials
The attack happened after Taliban insurgents attacked a local police post in Ghazni.
A NATO spokesman in Kabul told AFP that the force was checking the information. PHOTO: REUTERS
GHAZNI:
A Nato air strike killed four Afghan police and two civilians on Thursday, Afghan officials said.
The US-led international military coalition said it was investigating.
The attack happened after Taliban insurgents attacked a local police post in Ghazni province before dawn and Nato planes were called in to support the officers under attack.
"The Nato planes went there to assist the police, but the post was bombed and four police were killed. Two civilians present were also killed," Fazul Ahmad Tolwak, chief of Ghazni's Deh Yak district, told AFP.
Ghazni provincial administration spokesman Fazul Sabawoon confirmed the incident and gave a similar account.
A NATO spokesman in Kabul told AFP that the force was checking the information.
The issue of civilian casualties in coalition operations is highly sensitive in Afghanistan, where the United States and its Nato allies have been fighting the Taliban for 11 years.
In the past they have provoked harsh criticism from Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is due to step down at elections next year, coinciding with the scheduled withdrawal of foreign combat troops.
A Nato air strike killed four Afghan police and two civilians on Thursday, Afghan officials said.
The US-led international military coalition said it was investigating.
The attack happened after Taliban insurgents attacked a local police post in Ghazni province before dawn and Nato planes were called in to support the officers under attack.
"The Nato planes went there to assist the police, but the post was bombed and four police were killed. Two civilians present were also killed," Fazul Ahmad Tolwak, chief of Ghazni's Deh Yak district, told AFP.
Ghazni provincial administration spokesman Fazul Sabawoon confirmed the incident and gave a similar account.
A NATO spokesman in Kabul told AFP that the force was checking the information.
The issue of civilian casualties in coalition operations is highly sensitive in Afghanistan, where the United States and its Nato allies have been fighting the Taliban for 11 years.
In the past they have provoked harsh criticism from Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is due to step down at elections next year, coinciding with the scheduled withdrawal of foreign combat troops.