(AhlulBayt News Agency) - Officials in Afghanistan said Monday an American air attack has killed at least eight policemen in a volatile central province.
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 said.
“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.”
A U.S. military spokesman has confirmed an airstrike was conducted in Tarin Kot on September 18, saying it targeted “individuals” firing on Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF).
“We don't have any further information on who those individuals might have been or why they were attacking ANDSF forces. U.S., Coalition, and Afghan forces have the right to self-defense, and in this case were responding to an immediate threat,” Brigadier General Charles Cleveland said.
Tarin Kot is among several Afghan provincial capitals that have faced serious Taliban attacks lately.
The insurgents earlier this month fought their way into the besieged city, but were not able to hold their ground when Afghan forces staged a counteroffensive.
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source : VOA
Monday
19 September 2016
1:11:18 PM
780096
Officials in Afghanistan said Monday an American air attack has killed at least eight policemen in a volatile central province.