Nine policemen were killed in Afghanistan yesterday in air strikes launched by the NATO-led force after police and troops mistook each other for Taliban insurgents, authorities said.
The “friendly fire” incident occurred in the early hours, when Afghan and NATO-led soldiers moved into a district in southwestern Afghanistan and police mistook them for rebels, Farah Deputy Governor Mohammad Younus Rasouli said.
“An engagement took place, each side thinking the other side the Taliban,” he said. “The ANA [Afghan National Army] requested air support, and ISAF [the International Security Assistance Force] bombed the police post that killed nine police and injured five police.”
The police chief of Farah’s Anar Dara district, on the border with Iran, was among the wounded and was in a serious condition, he said.
The police commander for western Afghanistan, Ikramuddin Yawar, confirmed the incident and said he had sent a team to investigate.
“Last night at around 1:30, a clash took place between ANA, ANP [Afghan National Police] and ISAF, each mistaking the other side as Taliban,” Yawar said. “Nine police were killed and five wounded.”
The Afghan defense ministry and international forces said they were checking on the report.
There have been several deadly incidents of “friendly fire” in Afghanistan where many local and international security forces are involved in the fight against Taliban insurgents.
The forces have been accused of not coordinating their operations properly.
In a separate incident late on Saturday, an ISAF unit in the eastern province of Paktika fired two mortar rounds that landed nearly 1km from the intended target and killed four civilians, the force said.
“An ISAF unit on a fire mission accidentally killed four civilians, with an unconfirmed further three deaths,” it said. “Four civilians were also wounded and are now under treatment by ISAF forces.”
ISAF said it “deeply regrets” the incident. It is the latest in which the international soldiers helping the Afghan government have killed civilians by mistake.
The US-led coalition said last week that it had killed eight civilians in an air strike targeting militants in Farah. Afghan officials said nine women and a boy were killed.
The coalition and ISAF are meanwhile investigating official Afghan reports that 64 civilians were killed in two strikes in northeastern Afghanistan early this month.
One hit a wedding party, killing 47 people including the bride, an investigation appointed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai found.
Also See: Obama praises troops in Afghanistan
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
‘BODIES EVERYWHERE’: The incident occurred at a Filipino festival celebrating an anti-colonial leader, with the driver described as a ‘lone suspect’ known to police Canadian police arrested a man on Saturday after a car plowed into a street party in the western Canadian city of Vancouver, killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8pm in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighborhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canada’s election. A 30-year-old local man was arrested at the scene, Vancouver police wrote on X. The driver was a “lone suspect” known to police, a police spokesperson told journalists at the
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition
RSS