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Five Nato troops killed in southern Afghanistan Friendly fire incident leaves five Nato troops dead in Afghanistan
(about 1 hour later)
Five Nato service members were killed in an apparent friendly fire incident in southern Afghanistan, the international coalition said on Tuesday. An air strike has killed five US troops and one Afghan soldier in southern Afghanistan, the deadliest friendly fire incident of the war for Nato forces.
A statement said all five soldiers died on Monday but did not give further details on the attack or the nationality of the soldiers. Coalition policy is for home countries to identify their military dead. Helicopters were called in by US soldiers when they came under Taliban attack after a day's heavy fighting in Zabul province, east of Kandahar, Afghan officials said, but a bomb hit the wrong target.
Most of the forces operating in the area are from the United States. "We had launched a clearance operation in an area with a high security threat," said Zabul provincial police chief General Ghulam Sakhi Rughlewanai. "When it was over and we were returning to base, the enemy opened fire and (the US troops) asked for air support. The helicopters made a mistake and targeted their own people," he added.
"The casualties occurred during a security operation when their unit came into contact with enemy forces. Tragically, there is the possibility that fratricide may have been involved. The incident is under investigation. Our thoughts are with the families of those killed during this difficult time," Nato said in a statement. Over 150 police and soldiers, both US and Afghan, along with a handful of intelligence officers, had taken part in the mission that began at 6am and ended a couple of hours after sunset. The insurgents attacked again after they gathered to leave the area.
If confirmed, it would be one of the most serious cases involving coalition-on-coalition fire during the nearly 14-year Afghan war. One of the worst came in April 2002 when four Canadian soldiers were killed when an American F-16 dropped a bomb on them near a night firing exercise in southern Kandahar. Afghan security forces have gone on the offensive against Taliban fighters ahead of 14 June, when the second round of a crucial presidential election will be held. Insurgents have vowed to disrupt the voting, so government troops are trying to create bubbles of security at polling stations.
A senior police official in southern Zabul province said the coalition soldiers may have been killed when they called in for close air support. Nato forces have officially stepped back from frontline fighting to focus on training Afghan soldiers, and death rates have dropped dramatically. The deaths made Monday the bloodiest day for foreign forces since a helicopter was shot down in December 2013, killing six.
General Ghulam Sakhi Rooghlawanay, the provincial police chief, said there was a joint operation by Afghan and Nato troops in early on Monday. After that operation was over, the troops came under attack from the Taliban and called in air support, he said. But some troops still go out on operations to help Afghan soldiers in areas where they have weaknesses, including limited intelligence, to calling in air support. It is one of those teams that appears to have been caught up in Monday's attack.
"There was a joint operation by the joint Afghan and foreign forces in Arghandab district of Zabul province on Monday. After the operation was over on the way back, the joint forces came under the attack of insurgents, then foreign forces called for an air support, Unfortunately five Nato soldiers and one Afghan army officer were killed mistakenly by Nato air strike," Rooghlawanay said. "We can confirm five International Security Assistance Force service members died in southern Afghanistan yesterday," ISAF said in a statement.
There was no way to independently confirm Rooghlawanay comments. The coalition would not comment and Nato headquarters in Brussels also deferred comment. "The casualties occurred during a security operation when their unit came into contact with enemy forces. Tragically, there is the possibility that 'fratricide' may have been involved."
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. The insurgents have intensified attacks on Afghan and foreign forces ahead of the country's presidential election runoff on Saturday. Officials are concerned there could be more violence around the time of the vote, although the first round in April passed relatively peacefully. If confirmed, that makes it the deadliest friendly fire incident in Afghanistan for several years, and the worst of the war for foreign troops. In 2010, German soldiers killed six Afghan troops who were rushing to the aid of other Afghan forces in a fight against Taliban.
The worst single incident of the war for coalition soldiers was in 2002, when a US fighter pilot dropped a 500lb bomb on Canadian troops – carrying out a live-fire exercise near an old al-Qaida training base – killing four and injuring eight.
Another soldier died in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, Nato said, but not from a combat injury. It gave no further details. At least 40 foreign soldiers have died in Afghanistan this year, although the number of dead has fallen dramatically from a peak of over 700, in 2010.