Joint patrol fires on Afghan police

[unhappycamper]

Joint patrol fires on Afghan police
Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Two Afghan policemen have been killed by coalition troops in the latest incident highlighting how difficult it can be to tell friend from enemy in Afghanistan. According to a U.S. military news release issued Sunday, the two policemen were killed by a combined Afghan-coalition patrol in Kapisa province late Friday night. The forces were part of an operation to "disrupt Taliban senior leadership and suicide attack networks in Kapisa," around 40 miles northeast of Kabul, the release read.

American officials said the coalition forces were "conducting a ground movement to their targeted location" when they spotted "several" individuals apparently maneuvering around them.

"Knowing a police checkpoint was nearby, the combined force suspected the individuals may be Afghan policemen and used various methods to identify itself as a friendly force," the release read. "Despite these efforts, which included having an interpreter and Afghan SOF (Special Operations Forces) engage the individuals in Pashtu, the ANP regrettably were undeterred and fired on the patrol. In self-defense, the patrol returned fire, killing two individuals."

The incident is under review, officials said.

"We sincerely regret the loss of life of our friendly forces and we are continually working with our Afghan partners to prevent situations like this from happening in the future," said U.S. Forces Afghanistan spokesman Col. Greg Julian. "I am truly saddened by this loss and wish to express my regrets to the families of the policemen killed in this incident."


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=61223