At least 14 Afghan soldiers were killed in ‘friendly fire’ following a US airstrike at an an army checkpoint in Logar province of Afghanistan here on early morning Monday, foreign news agency reported.
It is one of the deadliest incident of ‘friendly fire’ from foreign forces in recent years in Afghanistan that claimed lives of at least 14 Afghan soldiers on army checkpoint in Logar province situated in southern part of Kabul, the federal capital of Afghanistan.
The bombing marked the second such incident in the area since last December when a NATO air strike killed five civilians and wounded six others, AFP reported.
“At 6:00 am (0130 GMT) today, two US helicopters attacked a checkpoint in Baraki Barak,” district governor Mohammad Rahim Amin told AFP.
“The checkpoint caught fire… and 10 Afghan army soldiers were killed,” he added, revising down his earlier toll of 14.
Civilian and military deaths in coalition airstrikes have been one of the most emotive and high-profile issues of the war, often provoking fury from the government.
An American military official said he was “aware of an incident involving US forces in Logar province this morning”.
“This incident is under investigation,” he added.
Logar’s deputy police chief, Mohammad Wara, also said 10 Afghan soldiers were killed and four others were wounded but provincial army commander, Abdul Razid Safi, said the attack resulted in eight fatalities. Amin said the targeted outpost was “not a suspicious area”.
US-led NATO forces ended their combat mission in Afghanistan in December, leaving local forces to battle the Taliban alone, but a residual force remains for training and counter-terrorism operations.
Despite the drawdown, the US carried out 106 military air strikes in June, a sharp jump compared to the previous month when it carried out 41 strikes.
But that figure is still significantly lower than previous years.
