A relative of Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been killed by international forces, Karzai’s brother and officials said on Thursday, returning the issue of civilian casualties inflicted by foreign troops to center stage.
The president’s brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai, said that a relative whom he described as “our father’s cousin” was shot dead near his home in the family’s village in southern Kandahar Province by the US-led NATO force overnight.
“It was a mistake,” said Wali Karzai, a senior provincial politician who denies frequent accusations of involvement in the drug trade.
“The forces conducted an operation, he was at his home, he came out and was shot. It was a mistake. What can you do about it?” he said.
The president learned of the incident on Thursday morning, according to his spokesman, Waheed Omer, and was “extremely sad” at the news.
Karzai “once again calls on NATO forces to avoid killing civilians,” the spokesman added.
A spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said the force was aware of the reports and was investigating.
ISAF had initially issued a statement saying that the man killed in the operation was the father of a Taliban leader responsible for distributing car bombs to insurgents in Kandahar and coordinating weapons supplies from outside Afghanistan.
However, it later said it was now “aware of conflicting reports about the identities of those involved and [had] initiated an inquiry to determine the facts.”
The long-sensitive issue of civilian casualties caused by international troops has been high up the political agenda in Afghanistan recently.
Karzai rejected an apology from the US commander of foreign troops, General David Petraeus, over the deaths of nine children in an air strike last week.
The boys, who were collecting firewood, died in a NATO air raid targeting insurgents in the eastern province of Kunar.
US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates also said he was sorry during a visit to Afghanistan on Monday.
A UN report out on Wednesday revealed that the deaths of Afghan civilians in the war had increased 15 percent to a record high of 2,777 last year, adding that insurgents were responsible for three-quarters of the killings.
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