An Afghan police officer turned his gun on NATO troops at a remote checkpoint in the south of the country before dawn Sunday, killing four American troops, according to Afghan and international officials.
It was the third attack by Afghan forces or insurgents disguised in military uniforms against international forces in as many days, killing eight troops in all.
Recent months have seen a string of such insider attacks by Afghan forces against their international counterparts. The killings have imperiled the military partnership between Kabul and NATO, a working relationship that is key to the handover of security responsibilities to Afghan forces as international troops draw down.
Meanwhile, according to Afghan officials, airstrikes by NATO planes killed eight women and girls in another remote part of the country, fueling a long-standing grievance against a tactic used by international forces that Afghans say causes excessive civilian casualties.
The International Security Assistance Force, as the U.S.-led coalition is known, acknowledged that civilians had been killed and expressed its regret over the airstrike. It insisted known insurgents had been the target.
"ISAF takes full responsibility for this tragedy," a statement said.
AP
Villagers from a remote part of Laghman province's Alingar district drove the bodies to the provincial capital, claiming they were killed by NATO aircraft while they were out gathering firewood before dawn.
"They were shouting 'Death to America!' They were condemning the attack," said Laghman provincial government spokesman Sarhadi Zewak.
Four bodies, covered in blankets, were seen by an Associated Press journalist at the governor's office in the provincial capital, Mehterlam.
Seven injured females were also brought to area hospitals for treatment, some of them as young as 10 years old, said provincial health director Latif Qayumi.
NATO forces said that the strike killed a large number of insurgents — as many as 45 — but may have also killed civilians.
There may have been five to eight Afghan civilians killed in the strike, said Capt. Dan Einert, a spokesman for international forces in Afghanistan. He said they were still investigating the report.
"Protecting Afghan lives is the cornerstone of our mission and it saddens us when we learn that our action might have unintentionally harmed civilians," said Jamie Graybeal, another spokesman for the international military in Afghanistan.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai "strongly condemns the airstrike by NATO forces which resulted in the deaths of eight women," a statement from his office said. It said the Afghan government was also investigating.
The recent violence also comes amid an international uproar about an Internet video mocking the Prophet Muhammad that many fear could further aggravate Afghan-U.S. relations. The video has sparked protests throughout the Muslim world and the Afghan government blocked the YouTube site that hosts the video and its parent company, Google Inc., over the weekend in a move to prevent violent protests. So far, protests in Afghanistan have remained peaceful.
Details of Sunday's attack on the U.S. troops were slow to come out because it took place in a remote area, said Graybeal, the NATO forces spokesman.
17 Sep, 2012
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Source: http://feeds.abcnews.com/click.phdo?i=d5c3dd0b4f565cdb4068c56aa9d9c9cc
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