The Telegraph, February 20, 2010

NATO air strike kills seven Afghan policemen in Kunduz

The air strike instead killed seven of the policemen and injured two others.

Seven Afghan policemen have been mistakenly killed in a Nato air strike in the north of the country.

Blood stains are seen on the ground at the scene of a NATO's airstrike in Imam Sahib district of Kunduz province north of Kabul, Afghanistan, on Friday, Feb. 19, 2010. (Photo: AP)

The government said an air strike had been ordered after a patrol including Nato and Afghan soldiers and police was attacked by the Taliban in the northern province of Kunduz.

But the air strike instead killed seven of the policemen and injured two others.

"The Afghan forces were bombed by mistake," said Zemarai Bashary, the Afghan interior ministry spokesman.

The incident was not related to Operation Moshtarak, the offensive taking place in the southern province of Helmand.

Last weekend a rocket strike killed 12 Afghan civilians during the offensive.

Use of the missile system involved was initially suspended after it emerged that a number of victims in a house it hit were children. Commanders issued immediate apologies and renewed promises to try their utmost to avoid casualties among the population.

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