NATO Probes Airstrike Killing 15 Afghan Police Officers in Logar

Date: 08 August 2018 - 21:45

News ID: ۵۶۰۶۲

KABUL (Press TV) – NATO has launched a probe into the deaths of some 15 Afghan police officers who were killed in a US air strike in eastern Afghanistan.
Logar provincial council chief Hamidullah Hamid on Tuesday said that "foreign forces" had bombed two police checkpoints and killed "about 15 police."
Interior Ministry Spokesman Nasrat Rahimi, confirmed the incident saying that over nine police officers were killed and 14 more injured during the aerial bombardment of the Azra district of the province.
Afghan forces battling Taliban "called in air support but unfortunately foreign forces mistakenly bombed their positions," Rahimi added.
NATO's mission in Afghanistan confirmed that air strikes had been carried out "in defense of Afghan forces" and by their request in Azra district without referring to casualties.
"We are looking into the matter further," said Resolute Support spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Martin O'Donnell.
In July, Fourteen members of a family, including three children, were killed in an airstrike in the northern Afghanistan province of Kunduz.
The deaths occurred in the Chahar Dara district during a battle against the Taliban involving US and Afghan airstrikes, according to reports.
The US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 with the express aim of toppling the Taliban. Now, some 17 years on, the militant group rules supreme in the war-torn country and the US has shown interest more than ever in negotiating with the militants.
Recently, the Daesh terrorist group has taken advantage of the lawlessness in Afghanistan and stepped up its terror attacks in the war-torn state after losing its bases in Iraq and Syria.