A US air strike killed at least two Afghan policemen and wounded four others in Helmand, officials said yesterday, in apparently the first “friendly fire” incident since American Marines returned to the southern province in April.
Afghan border police were on a patrol in the volatile district of Nad Ali when they came under fire during a military operation around midnight Friday.
“We can confirm personnel from the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces were killed and wounded during overnight operations in Helmand Province,” the US military said in a statement, adding that an investigation had been launched.
“We would like to express our deepest condolences to the families of the ABP members affected by this unfortunate incident.”
The policemen were patrolling too close to a Taliban base when they came under attack, provincial spokesman Omar Zhwak told AFP.
“Two police officers were killed and four others wounded. A number of Taliban were also killed in the air strike,” Zhwak said.
Helmand for years was the centrepiece of the US and British military intervention in Afghanistan — only for it to slip deeper into a quagmire of instability.
The Taliban effectively control or contest 10 of Helmand’s 14 districts, blighted by a huge opium harvest that helps fund the insurgency.
Separately, an Afghan commando yesterday killed two American soldiers and wounded two others during a joint operation in eastern Nangarhar province, a stronghold of Islamic State militants, an official said.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the insider attack in the volatile district of Achin, saying it was carried out by an infiltrator.
“Today around noon an Afghan commando opened fire on US troops in Achin district, killing two American soldiers,” provincial spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told AFP.
“The (Afghan) soldier was also killed in the return fire.”
Nato forces in Kabul declined to immediately comment on the killings.
“We are aware of an incident in eastern Afghanistan,” the US-led military coalition said in a brief statement. “We will release more information when appropriate.”
Afghan Border Police personnel walk through an outpost damaged in an airstrike in the Nad Ali district of Helmand province yesterday.
