Kabul - An Afghan provincial governor said Monday that US-
led coalition military forces killed 14 security guards working with
a road construction company in eastern Afghanistan, while the US
military claimed those killed were militants.
The incident happened close to Khost, the provincial capital of
like-named south-eastern province, on late Sunday when coalition
forces opened fire on three vehicles, Khost governor, Arsala Jamal
said.
He said all those killed were Afghan security guards, who were
working for a road construction company in the province.
The US military said in a statement on Monday that their forces
stopped three vehicles close to Khost city, but the 'occupants of the
vehicles got out of their vehicles and fired on the Coalition
forces.'
The statement said the coalition soldiers returned fire with
rifles and helicopter gun fire, adding, 'there were secondary
explosions in the vehicles, and 14 armed men were killed.'
Numerous ammunition belts and small arms were recovered from the
vehicles, the statement said, adding that a joint investigation with
Afghan government officials was underway to clarify the facts
surrounding the incident.
President Hamid Karzai condemned the incident and warned that
these kinds of incidents in which civilians die would erode public
support for the Afghan government and for the presence of
international forces in the country.
There has been a series of incidents in which the US-led coalition
and NATO-led forces have mistakenly or based on false information
attacked Afghan security forces.
In a similar incident last month the US military said they had
killed multiple insurgents during an operation in southern Ghazni
province. But Afghan provincial officials said later that 23 security
guards working with a construction company were killed in a coalition
airstrike.
Also last month, US-led forces killed nine Afghan national army
soldiers in an incident, also in Khost province.
Mounting civilian and Afghan security forces' casualties in
international military attacks have angered Afghan government
officials and the public.
President Karzai lashed out at US military forces for the deaths
of 37 civilians, who were killed in a US-led anti-insurgency
operation in Shah Wali Kot district of southern Kandahar province on
Monday last week.
Following a joint investigation with the Afghan government, the US
military acknowledged the 37 civilian deaths including women and
children as well as the wounding of up to 30 others.
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