NATO airstrike mistakenly kills 7 Afghan policemen

KUNDUZ - Seven Afghan police officers were killed Thursday when their vehicle was mistakenly hit by fire from a NATO military plane, police and witnesses said.

Afghan and NATO-led forces began a joint operation against Taliban militants in Emam Saheb district of the northern province of Kunduz earlier in the day, district police chief Abdul Qayoum said.

“During the operation, a NATO jet hit a police ranger and killed seven policemen,” Qayoum told the German Press Agency dpa. “We believe the pilot mistook the police forces for Taliban.”

One police officer was wounded in the attack, he said.

The website of a German news magazine, Der Spiegel, said the air cover was called in by a US special forces unit. Resident Abdul Latif told DPA that one of his relatives, who was a police official, was killed in the attack.

“Some of the bodies were torn to pieces and are beyond recognition,” he said in an interview at the hospital, where the bodies were taken.

A NATO spokesman in Kabul said that the alliance was aware of an incident, and that its forces were investigating.

The deadly airstrike could strain relations between the Afghan government and NATO forces at a time when both sides are calling for closer partnership and cooperation in fight against Taliban, who are active throughout the war-torn country.