From multiple named Afghan official sources, newspapers are reporting that two U.S. airstrikes have killed seven or eight Afghan police officers, at a roadside post outside Tarin Kot, capital of Uruzgan province.
A misdirected American airstrike killed at least seven Afghan police officers in the hard-pressed southern province of Oruzgan, Afghan officials said on Monday.
Taliban insurgents have taken control of much of the province and have been besieging its capital, Tirin Kot, for weeks, held off mainly by the American air support for Afghan security forces.
On Sunday around noon, a police post known as Saqi, on the main highway into Tirin Kot, was under assault, and an airstrike hit the post instead of the attackers, said Abdul Qawe Omari, the deputy police chief for the province.
“It was hit mistakenly and due to wrong directions or coordinates being given,” Mr. Omari said. “The fighting was ongoing at the time.”
At Least 7 Afghan Police Officers Killed in Errant U.S. Strike, Officials Say, Fahim Abed and Taimoor Shah, New York Times
According to Obaidullah Barakzai, who represents Uruzgan in parliament, the policemen who died were part of a reserve unit tasked with securing the highway. They were apparently not wearing uniforms at the time of the attack, he said.
“The police battalion said they wore uniforms, but I heard from the foreigners that they were wearing civilian clothes and carrying guns. That is why they were attacked,” he said.
The US military could neither confirm nor deny that claim, though Lawhorn said, “We have heard the same reports.”
US airstrike kills at least seven Afghan police officers in Uruzgan, Sune Engel Rasmussen, Guardian
An Afghan police officer who survived the incident told local reporters the second strike had hit individuals who were sent to help colleagues that had been wounded and killed in the first attack.
“Someone told me to go and collect the body of the policeman martyred in the attack,” said Torjan, who like many Afghans goes by one name. “In the second round, the jets came back from the other direction and bombarded us,” he added.
U.S. Airstrikes in Afghanistan Killed Eight Policemen, Local Officials Say, Ehsanullah Amri and Jessica Donati, Wall Street Journal
Rahimullah Khan, quoted here, is the brother of Matiullah Khan, who was assassinated last year. There has been a power struggle for control of police in Uruzgan, since the assassination.
The police personnel were guarding a security outpost on a main highway outside Tarin Kot, the provincial capital of Uruzgan, on Sunday evening, regional Highway Police Commander Samunwal Rahimullah Khan told VOA.
“An airstrike killed one police officer and when seven others returned to the security post, foreign aircraft carried out another raid, killing all of them,” he said.
The Afghan commander denounced the attack and asserted there were Taliban posts in nearby areas with the white insurgent flag raised on them, “but we are unable to understand why Americans targeted our policemen.”
US Airstrike Allegedly Kills 8 Afghan Policemen, Ayaz Gul, Voice of America