January 25, 2008	Friday	Muharram 15, 1429

GHAZNI, Jan 24: US-led soldiers killed nine Afghan policemen, including a district police chief, and a woman in an overnight raid aimed at Taliban fighters, Afghan officials said on Thursday.

The police officers had gone to the scene of a US-led coalition operation in the central province of Ghazni on Thursday, said Mohammad Nashir, the spokesman for the provincial governor.

“The coalition forces opened fire at them. Nine policemen including a police district chief, Abdul Wakeel Kamiab, were killed.... A civilian woman was also killed,” he said.

The US-led coalition said its early morning raid killed “several insurgents” but it was looking into the allegations.

Afghan interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said eight policemen were killed in the incident.

“We have sent down an emergency delegation to find out how exactly this has happened,” he said, adding the incident was probably the result of a “misunderstanding.” “The dark of the night has been one of the causes of the incident,” he said.

In a statement, the coalition said its soldiers had been searching a compound for a Taliban commander believed to be involved in suicide attacks.

They came under fire and retaliated, including using aircraft.

“They killed some of the insurgents that had fired on them and detained nine individuals,” coalition spokesman Major Chris Belcher said.

After news of the incident emerged, about 100 men marched through the town of Ghazni, chanting “Death to America.” In Afghanistan's difficult terrain, in which several foreign and local security forces operate, there have been many incidents in which friendly forces or civilians have been killed in error.

One of the main criticisms of the major international military effort to defeat Afghanistan's Taliban-led insurgency is the number of civilians caught up in military efforts against the extremist rebels.—AFP