BRIAN ROSS REPORTS
Stray Guns in Baghdad
For McCain, Another Problem FundraiserTOP BLOTTER CATEGORIES
- Abramoff Lobbying Scandal
- American Al Qaeda
- Avian Flu
- Beirut Hospital Out of Gas
- CIA
- CIA Secret Prisons
- D.C. Madam Affair
- FBI
- Federal Air Marshal Service
- Homeland Security
- Hurricane Katrina
- Mark Foley Internet Scandal
- Millionaire Sex Scandal
- Nigerian E-mail Scams
- Norman Hsu, Clinton Fundraiser
- NSA: Wiretapping
- Osama bin Laden
- Payola
- Pharmacy Investigation
- Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert
- Terror
- U.K. Airline Terror Plot
- U.K. Bombing Attempts
- Wen Ho Lee
- William Jefferson
- Zarqawi
U.S. Forces Kill Seven Afghan Police Officers in Friendly Fire Incident
Email
Print
ShareJune 12, 2007 4:46 PM
U.S. forces accidentally killed seven members of the Afghan police last night in a friendly fire incident, according to Afghan officials.
U.S. troops fired on a police checkpoint in the Khogyani district, according to the commander of the local police unit, who said the Afghan police thought it was an attack by the Taliban so they fired back.
U.S. forces eventually called for air support.
Photos: Friendly Fire Leave Seven Afghan Police Officers Dead
In the end, seven Afghan policemen were killed, five were injured, and three vehicles were destroyed.
One of the policemen told the Associated Press the Americans approached the checkpoint and opened fire.
"I thought they were Taliban, and we shouted at them to stop, but they came closer, and they opened fire," said Khan Mohammed. "I'm very angry. We are here to protect the Afghan government and help serve the Afghan government, but the Americans have come to kill us."
There are conflicting reports from the scene, however, over which side fired first and over whether or not an ongoing gun battle with the Taliban confused the issue.
"The incident is tragic, and our commander is investigating the circumstances to determine what happened and make sure it doesn't happen again," said Lt. Col. Todd Vician at the Pentagon.
Kirit Radia contributed to this report.
Do you have a tip for Brian Ross and the Investigative Team?
June 12, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (12)
Gunbattles, especially at night are tricky...chaotic and deadly. Pretty tough that the Afghan cop, Khan Mohammed, took the vocal stance he did above.
The original story I heard was that the Afghans fired first, thinking the US troops were Taliban. The US troops returned fire, called air support, and now there are 7 open spots in the police force...
...the place is still probably better off than it was six years ago...
Posted by: Jazz | Jun 12, 2007 6:06:03 PM
Spoken like a true arm chair general!
A legend in your own mind.
Posted by: Zach | Jun 12, 2007 6:09:39 PM
But you're not in combat now, are you.
So your G2 is as limited as any other civilian.
In other words you or I know nothing more than what we're given by the establishment run media.
And unless your combat was WWII, Korea or Nam I've probably put in more hours just sleeping than you have exchanging oxygen for CO2..
Posted by: Zach | Jun 12, 2007 9:09:01 PM
If you're over twelve, you have got to be clinically retarded, Z...
Posted by: Jazz | Jun 12, 2007 9:39:00 PM
Articulate and eloquent, Jazz.
As expected.
Posted by: Zach | Jun 13, 2007 11:52:35 AM
Thank you...
Posted by: Jazz | Jun 13, 2007 12:40:32 PM
What if the Afghan police where somehow in the way of the Northern Alliance’s opium production, it is without argument the countries most profitable business. Opium and heroin are age old regional enterprises that have remarkably flourished since the removal of the Taliban and under the present Afghanistan government. With the objective of stabilization in the region is it possible the Pres had his CIA henchmen sort of urge the American military, or it's Blackwater mercenaries to remove what could be an obstruction to the afghan economy? I guess when the dope from their recent bumper crop of poppies hits our streets in the form of dope we might begin to suspect that something is really wrong in Afghanistan.
Posted by: SacrAmerican | Jun 13, 2007 7:59:48 PM
My previous post is only hypothetical of course!
Posted by: SacrAmerican | Jun 13, 2007 8:02:42 PM
Correction to final paragraph:
I guess when the dope from their recent bumper crop of poppies hits our streets in the form of lost lives we might begin to suspect that something is really wrong in Afghanistan.
Posted by: SacrAmerican | Jun 13, 2007 8:06:43 PM
IF we as a nation were truly worried about lost lives there wouldn't be 600,000 of them in Iraq as a result of our invasion/occupation and we'd get our kids out of their crazy little civil war we helped along nicely by creating a power vacuum.
That's IF we we truly worried about lost lives.
Then too, we would do something about the thousands of homicides right here in the US each year. You'd think we were at war. The numbers are like in the thousands each year.
That's IF we were truly worried about lost lives.
Posted by: Zach | Jun 13, 2007 8:29:28 PM
Well, ya know, I guess I mighta done the exact same thing, if they started shooting at me.
Posted by: Rick McDaniel | Jun 14, 2007 1:54:58 PM
OOps
Posted by: JB | Jun 15, 2007 11:02:00 AM
Post a comment
