KABUL, June 12: Four bodyguards of the brother of Afghan national hero Ahmad Shah Masood were arrested at gunpoint by German troops on Wednesday after an altercation near the site of a grand assembly, officials said.

The guards were driving behind a vehicle carrying delegate Wali Masood to the second day of the Loya Jirga meeting when they were hauled over by International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) soldiers.

Two of the guards were forced to the ground and allegedly assaulted but a third drew his weapon before the incident was defused with the intervention of Afghan national soldiers.

“One of Masood’s men had the barrel of his Kalashnikov sticking out of the window,” Afghan General Sayaf Khalil said.

“ISAF very impatiently disarmed the bodyguards. The ISAF troops pointed weapons at the men. They even pointed the weapons at their heads. If ISAF do this sort of thing again there will be trouble,” he said.

Witness Said Tariq said one of the bodyguards had had his finger on the trigger.

“It was really critical, the ISAF troops had two of them on the ground and were kicking them. The Germans did not have any translator with them and they were very worried. Then the Afghan soldiers came and sorted it out.”

Wali Masood later played down the incident, telling reporters it was a “very small misunderstanding that was solved very quickly.”

“The ISAF people thought they were armed men without licences. later it was realised they were with licences,” he told reporters.

“I have got my guards all the time with me. My guard are very responsible people. They have been with the late commander Masood, they are very well trained and know exactly what to and what not to do.”

Masood added that the guards had been released and were in the room where the press conference was being held.

German ISAF spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Loebbering confirmed an incident had taken place near the venue of the Loya Jirga, which is to select a new government for Afghanistan.

“At about 8:00 am this morning, at a roundabout near the Intercontinental Hotel, one of our German troops was aimed at by people in camouflage material,” he said.

“They were standing on pick-ups and following that incident, we took care of these four people and handed them over to the local Afghan police force,” he said. “Investigations are still ongoing. Nobody was injured.”—AFP