NATO airstrike mistakenly kills 7 Afghan soldiers and policemen, officials say

[laststeamtrain]

Source: LA TIMES

NATO airstrike mistakenly kills 7 Afghan soldiers and policemen, officials say

Afghan and international forces were pursuing Taliban insurgents when the accident occurred, Afghan officials say. Five U.S. troops were injured in clashes with militants.

By Alexandra Zavis

November 7, 2009 | 9:30 a.m.

Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan - Afghan police and military officials said today that at least seven of their members were killed and 16 injured in a NATO airstrike that mistakenly targeted international forces in the northwest of the country.

The NATO force confirmed the casualties and said it was investigating with the Afghan authorities whether some of them may have been caused by friendly fire.

Five U.S. troops were also injured during an operation that involved multiple firefights over several hours Friday, said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Todd Vician, a spokesman for the NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan.

The clashes occurred as Afghan and international forces were searching for two U.S. paratroopers who disappeared Wednesday while trying to recover airdropped supplies from a river. Police said they were swept away by the river in the Bala Murghab district of Badghis province.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan-violence8-2009nov08,0,4688920.story

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November 8, 2009
NATO Airstrike Killed 7 Afghan Soldiers, Officials Say
By ALISSA J. RUBIN

KABUL, Afghanistan — The Afghan Defense Ministry and local officials in Badghis Province said on Saturday that seven members of the Afghan security forces had been killed in a NATO airstrike the day before that was part of an effort to aid a beleaguered Afghan and NATO operation against the Taliban.

A NATO spokesman confirmed that the seven Afghan officers had been killed, as well as an Afghan civilian working with the Afghan forces. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is investigating whether its close air support was responsible for the casualties. According to NATO, five American soldiers were wounded in the operation against the militants, along with 15 Afghan soldiers, two Afghan police officers and one Afghan civilian working with the troops.

If NATO close air support is responsible for the casualties, it would be one of the worst cases of friendly fire in the course of the eight-year war.

The troops were in rural Badghis Province, in a relatively flat area, traversed by the Morghab River. They were searching for two American soldiers who had been missing since Wednesday. The Americans had vanished while on a resupply mission.

Local officials in Badghis Province said the two soldiers, who were paratroopers from the Fourth Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, had gone to pick up food supplies from an airdrop.

There are conflicting stories about what happened to them. Some local people said that the supplies were dropped inadvertently into the river and that as the men tried to retrieve them they were swept away in the swift current. But Maulvi Ghulam Farouk, a Taliban leader in the Bala Murghab district of Badghis Province who was present during the fighting, said that the soldiers fought with the Taliban and that the Taliban had killed one of them. However, he said, a couple of the Taliban were wounded during the fight and retreated.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/world/asia/08afghan.html

[roody]

1. Winning hearts and minds...

[FarLeftFist]

2. Jesus Harold Christ

[Arctic Dave]

3. Oops, our bad.

[excess_3]

4. time to get out .nt

[Blandocyte]

5. Doh! Sorry!

Let's just let them run their own damned country.