Nine policemen were killed in Afghanistan yesterday in air strikes launched by the NATO-led force after police and troops mistook each other for Taliban insurgents, authorities said.
The “friendly fire” incident occurred in the early hours, when Afghan and NATO-led soldiers moved into a district in southwestern Afghanistan and police mistook them for rebels, Farah Deputy Governor Mohammad Younus Rasouli said.
“An engagement took place, each side thinking the other side the Taliban,” he said. “The ANA [Afghan National Army] requested air support, and ISAF [the International Security Assistance Force] bombed the police post that killed nine police and injured five police.”
The police chief of Farah’s Anar Dara district, on the border with Iran, was among the wounded and was in a serious condition, he said.
The police commander for western Afghanistan, Ikramuddin Yawar, confirmed the incident and said he had sent a team to investigate.
“Last night at around 1:30, a clash took place between ANA, ANP [Afghan National Police] and ISAF, each mistaking the other side as Taliban,” Yawar said. “Nine police were killed and five wounded.”
The Afghan defense ministry and international forces said they were checking on the report.
There have been several deadly incidents of “friendly fire” in Afghanistan where many local and international security forces are involved in the fight against Taliban insurgents.
The forces have been accused of not coordinating their operations properly.
In a separate incident late on Saturday, an ISAF unit in the eastern province of Paktika fired two mortar rounds that landed nearly 1km from the intended target and killed four civilians, the force said.
“An ISAF unit on a fire mission accidentally killed four civilians, with an unconfirmed further three deaths,” it said. “Four civilians were also wounded and are now under treatment by ISAF forces.”
ISAF said it “deeply regrets” the incident. It is the latest in which the international soldiers helping the Afghan government have killed civilians by mistake.
The US-led coalition said last week that it had killed eight civilians in an air strike targeting militants in Farah. Afghan officials said nine women and a boy were killed.
The coalition and ISAF are meanwhile investigating official Afghan reports that 64 civilians were killed in two strikes in northeastern Afghanistan early this month.
One hit a wedding party, killing 47 people including the bride, an investigation appointed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai found.
Also See: Obama praises troops in Afghanistan
When Shanghai-based designer Guo Qingshan posted a vacation photo on Valentine’s Day and captioned it “Puppy Mountain,” it became a sensation in China and even created a tourist destination. Guo had gone on a hike while visiting his hometown of Yichang in central China’s Hubei Province late last month. When reviewing the photographs, he saw something he had not noticed before: A mountain shaped like a dog’s head rested on the ground next to the Yangtze River, its snout perched at the water’s edge. “It was so magical and cute. I was so excited and happy when I discovered it,” Guo said.
TURNAROUND: The Liberal Party had trailed the Conservatives by a wide margin, but that was before Trump threatened to make Canada the US’ 51st state Canada’s ruling Liberals, who a few weeks ago looked certain to lose an election this year, are mounting a major comeback amid the threat of US tariffs and are tied with their rival Conservatives, according to three new polls. An Ipsos survey released late on Tuesday showed that the left-leaning Liberals have 38 percent public support and the official opposition center-right Conservatives have 36 percent. The Liberals have overturned a 26-point deficit in six weeks, and run advertisements comparing the Conservative leader to Trump. The Conservative strategy had long been to attack unpopular Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but last month he
Chinese authorities said they began live-fire exercises in the Gulf of Tonkin on Monday, only days after Vietnam announced a new line marking what it considers its territory in the body of water between the nations. The Chinese Maritime Safety Administration said the exercises would be focused on the Beibu Gulf area, closer to the Chinese side of the Gulf of Tonkin, and would run until tomorrow evening. It gave no further details, but the drills follow an announcement last week by Vietnam establishing a baseline used to calculate the width of its territorial waters in the Gulf of Tonkin. State-run Vietnam News
THIRD ANNIVERSARY OF WAR: Ursula von der Leyen said that Europe was in Kyiv because ‘it is not only the destiny of Ukraine that is at stake. It’s Europe’s destiny’ A dozen leaders from Europe and Canada yesterday visited Ukraine’s capital to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion in a show of support for Kyiv by some of its most important backers. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau were among the visitors greeted at the railway station by Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha and the president’s chief of staff Andrii Yermak. Von der Leyen wrote on social media that Europe was in Kyiv “because Ukraine is in Europe.” “In this fight for survival, it is not only the destiny of Ukraine that is
RSS