Oct 22, 2008 3:45 am US/Pacific
Officials: U.S. Strike Kills 9 Afghan Troops
KABUL, Afghanistan (CBS) ―
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An airstrike in Afghanistan by a U.S.-led coalition killed eight Afghan soldiers at an army checkpoint on Wednesday. (FIle)
Reza Shiromohammadi/AFP/Getty Images
A U.S.-led coalition air strike mistakenly hit an Afghan army checkpoint early Wednesday, killing nine soldiers and wounding three others, Afghan officials said.
The strike hit an army checkpoint in Sayed Kheil area of Khost province in eastern Afghanistan, said Arsallah Jamal, the province's governor.
The U.S. said its forces "may have mistakenly killed and injured" Afghan soldiers from what may have been a case of mistaken identity "on both sides."
"As a Coalition forces convoy was returning from a previous operation, they were involved in multiple engagements," a U.S. military statement said. "As a result of the engagements, ANA (Afghan army) soldiers were killed and injured."
Jamal said the U.S. and Afghan troops have been conducting operations in the region for over a week, and the army checkpoint was in a fixed location. The strike killed nine soldiers and wounded three, said Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, the Defense Ministry spokesman.
Col. Greg Julian, the chief spokesman for U.S. troops in Afghanistan, said American officials would meet with Afghan defense officials to "sort out the details."
Apparent friendly fire incidents have happened before. In June 2007, Afghan police mistook U.S. troops on a nighttime mission for Taliban fighters and opened fire on them, prompting U.S. forces to return fire and call in attack aircraft. Seven Afghan police were killed.
In the last month, uniformed Afghan police officers have twice opened fire on U.S. troops, killing two soldiers. Both officers were killed by U.S. troops returning fire, but the incidents raised fears that insurgents have infiltrated Afghanistan's security forces in order to launch attacks.
Meanwhile, a senior Afghan police official said Wednesday that a military operation had killed 35 Taliban fighters.
Juma Gul Himat said the two-day battle in southern Uruzgan province was led by Afghan forces but also involved helicopter gunships. Himat is Uruzgan's provincial police chief.
He said officials recovered the bodies of 35 Taliban fighters, and that three police also died in the fight. Some 100 Taliban fighters were involved in the battle.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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