7 Afghan police officers killed in NATO airstrike

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 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 DPA. “We believe the pilot mistook the police forces for Taliban.”

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

Resident Abdul Latif said 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.

Sofi Nazikmir, a member of provincial council said local villagers told him that they saw military plane firing a rocket at the police vehicle.

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