4 Afghan Police Officers Slain in Error by U.S.

U.S. troops engaged in combat with militants killed four Afghan policemen after mistaking them for the enemy, officials of both nations said Friday.

U.S. forces near Gereshk in the southern province of Helmand on Thursday spotted a vehicle carrying five armed men approaching an area where the troops were battling militants, said U.S. spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O’Hara.

He said that the five officers were not wearing the uniform of the Afghan national police and that their vehicle tried to drive away quickly.

“Coalition forces shot at the vehicle, killing four and wounding one,” O’Hara said.

“We are conducting an investigation. Of course we regret this incident.”

A senior police officer in Helmand, Haji Mohammed Rahim, said the incident occurred after Taliban guerrillas attacked a convoy of U.S. and Afghan troops in the same district, killing two Afghan soldiers.

The incident came amid an upsurge of violence after the guerrillas failed to derail Sept. 18 legislative elections.

More than 1,000 people, most of them militants but more than 50 of them U.S. soldiers, have been killed in Afghanistan this year.

It is the bloodiest period since 2001, when a U.S.-led invasion ousted the Taliban government.