"US Kills 9 Police in Afghanistan"
"by RAHIM FAIEZ – 5 hours ago
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Nine Afghan policemen were killed Thursday during an anti-Taliban operation by U.S.-led coalition troops in central Afghanistan, officials said.
Separately on Thursday, a NATO soldier was killed and two others were wounded when an explosion struck their patrol in southern Afghanistan, an alliance statement said, without giving their nationalities or the exact location of the blast.
The nine police, including a district police chief, died in Ghazni province during an operation that included U.S. ground forces and airstrikes, said a provincial official, Habeb-ul Rahman. Two civilians also died.
It was unclear whether Afghan troops took part.
The U.S.-led coalition said it killed "several insurgents" and detained nine others during the operation, which targeted a Taliban commander associated with suicide bombings in Ghazni. The two sides exchanged fire and airstrikes were called in.
Afghan police officials in Ghazni, who spoke on condition of anonymity since they were not authorized to speak to the media, said the police appeared to have been killed by airstrikes, which also destroyed several houses.
Coalition spokesman Maj. Chris Belcher said four policemen were wounded by insurgents and that the coalition was looking into the reports of the police deaths.
However, an area resident named Ismail, who like many Afghans goes by only one name, said police approached the area as the U.S.-led operation was under way, and were attacked by American troops.
Hundreds of angry people protested the killings in Ghazni city and shouted anti-American slogans, Rahman said.
The bodies of the policemen, some showing bullet wounds, were taken to Ghazni's hospital. A tape obtained by the AP Television News shows a bullet-riddled police vehicle close to the area where American troops conducted the operation.
Faced with troop shortages, U.S. and NATO-led troops rely heavily on the use of airpower in their fight against the Taliban and other militants in Afghanistan. Such tactics have caused many civilian casualties in past years, and at times caused friction with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has urged caution and coordination with Afghan authorities.
U.S. and NATO officials accuse militants of using civilians as human shields."
