Eight Afghan policemen killed in US air strike: officials

[Devil Soul]

Eight Afghan policemen killed in US air strike: officials
By Reuters
Published: September 19, 2016
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An Afghan security serviceman keep watch at a damaged police post following an airstrike in Bati Kot district in Nangarhar province on August 1, 2013. PHOTO: AFP

LASHKAR GAH, AFGHANISTAN: A US air strike killed as many as eight Afghan policemen outside the embattled provincial capital of Uruzgan province, Afghan officials said on Monday, as security forces, supported by US strikes, battle resurgent Taliban militants.

An initial air strike late on Sunday killed one police personnel, while a follow up strike targeted first responders, killing at least seven, said Rahimullah Khan, commander of the reserve police unit in Uruzgan.

Another official, Uruzgan deputy police chief Mohammed Qawi Omari, put the death toll at six but also reported the police were killed by a foreign air strike.

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The US military command in Kabul confirmed its warplanes had conducted an air strike in the area, but said they targeted “individuals firing on, and posing a threat to” Afghan national security forces.

“We don’t have any further information on who those individuals might have been or why they were attacking ANDSF (Afghan national defense and security forces),” US military spokesperson Brigadier General Charles Cleveland said in a statement.

“US, coalition, and Afghan forces have the right to self-defense and in this case were responding to an immediate threat.”

Afghan officials said they were investigating the attack and were in contact with the US-led coalition.

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Afghan security forces, supported by American air strikes and international military advisers, are battling Taliban militants who have fought a 15-year insurgency against the Western-backed government in Kabul.

Taliban fighters briefly entered Uruzgan’s capital city, Tarin Kot, in early September, according to provincial officials, before being pushed back by security forces.

 

[maximuswarrior]

Precision strikes at their best.

 

[hussain0216]

The only thing more dangerous then the Taliban are the Americans

 

[Khanate]

Inna Lillahi wa inna ilaihi raji'un.

My condolences to the victim's families.

 

[Dawood Ibrahim]

Friendship of US Always come with bloodshed

 

[barbarosa]

Once Iranian president has say that who become a friends of USA those have no need of enemy.

 

[Khan_21]

@A-Team USA your strategic partner . Didn't they kill people during the kunduz episode too ? now this ? Its a perfect master -slave relation .

 

[Cyberian]

Afghans being taught a lesson for not doing enough.

 

[Max]

My condolences to the victim's families...

 

[Hammad Arshad Qureshi]

Wow yesterday Syrian soldiers today Afghans. Are American pilots drunk when they launch attacks?

 

[Rasengan]

The hashish Afghan army probably gave the wrong coordinates to the Americans.

 

[Khanate]

Wow yesterday Syrian soldiers today Afghans. Are American pilots drunk when they launch attacks?

I think its far more disgusting that first responders are being targeted in these air strikes. This is a page out of Assad's handbook.

An initial air strike late on Sunday killed one police personnel, while a follow up strike targeted first responders, killing at least seven, said Rahimullah Khan, commander of the reserve police unit in Uruzgan.

 

[nangyale]

I think its far more disgusting that first responders are being targeted in these air strikes. This is a page out of Assad's handbook.

This is typical US behavior. That's what they were doing in Waziristan and Yemen as well.
Nothing new here.
Although still very disturbing.

 

[pakdefender]

Afghanistan and India will blame Pakistan for this also

 

[Zibago]

Afghanistan: Eight Afghan policemen killed in US strike
The US confirmed the air strike, but said it was carried out in response to a threat to US and Afghan forces.

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• READ MORE: Afghanistan - Taliban pushes into Uruzgan's Tarinkot
  
  The US military command in Kabul confirmed its warplanes had conducted an air strike in the area, but said they targeted "individuals firing on and posing a threat to" Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF).
  
  "We don't have any further information on who those individuals might have been or why they were attacking [the] ANDSF," US military spokesman Brigadier General Charles Cleveland said in a statement.
  
  "US, coalition, and Afghan forces have the right to self-defence and in this case were responding to an immediate threat."
  
  Afghan officials said that they were investigating the attack and were in contact with the US-led coalition.
  
  Al Jazeera's Jennifer Glasse, reporting from Kabul, said fighting to push back the Taliban from the Uruzgan province is ongoing and that US forces are helping the Afghan forces.
  
  "At this point it is difficult to know if this was a mistake in identity or whether the coordinates were called in wrong, but we do know that there were Taliban in the areas," our correspondent said.
  
  "But as so often happens here, the Afghan security forces get caught in the middle, and in this case, eight Afghan policemen are reportedly killed."
  
  The Taliban have in recent months stepped up their attacks in Uruzgan and neighbouring provinces in the south, including the Taliban heartland of Helmand.
  
  Afghan security forces, supported by American air strikes and international military advisers, are battling the Taliban who have fought a 15-year insurgency against the Western-backed government in Kabul.
  
  READ MORE: SIGAR report - Taliban gained territory in Afghanistan
  
  Taliban fighters briefly entered Uruzgan's capital city, Tarin Kot, in early September before being pushed back by security forces.
  
  Last year, the US military conducted a deadly air strike on a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospital in Afghanistan's Kunduz, killing at least 42 people, including 24 patients, 14 staff and four caretakers.
  
  Technical and human error led to the attack, the US military said as they presented the results of an internal investigation into the incident.
  
  
  
  
  
  Source: News Agencies