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Troops mistakenly kill 4 afghans { May 21 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030521/ap_on_re_as/afghan_embassy_shootinghttp://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030521/ap_on_re_as/afghan_embassy_shooting
Yahoo! News Wed, May 21, 2003
World - AP Asia
U.S. Troops Mistakenly Kill 4 Afghans
16 minutes ago
By TODD PITMAN, Associated Press Writer
KABUL, Afghanistan - American troops guarding the U.S. Embassy in Kabul shot and killed four Afghan soldiers Wednesday, apparently mistaking them for assailants, Afghan officials said.
There were no apparent U.S. casualties, and reports varied about who fired first.
The shooting came a day after the United States raised its terror alert level, warning of possible attacks on Americans. The U.S. Embassy said it regretted the loss of life, but gave no details about what sparked the shootout or how many people were killed.
"It was a misunderstanding between the American guards at the U.S. Embassy and our soldiers who were unloading weapons," Kabul Police Chief Basir Salangi told The Associated Press.
The heavily policed road where the shooting occurred is also home to the international peacekeeper's base, an Afghan intelligence agency barracks and leads to the Presidential Palace.
Salangi said the soldiers were delivering the weapons to the intelligence agency across from the embassy. "They wanted to unload the weapons to store them inside the brigade, which belongs to the intelligence service," he said.
He said three Afghan soldiers were killed and two wounded. Hospital officials said another soldier died shortly after being brought in.
Gen. Abdul Raouf Taj, chief commander for the Kabul district where the embassy is located, also said four were soldiers were killed. He said four were wounded.
Tensions have been high in the Afghan capital in recent months. Three international peacekeepers have been wounded in two separate attacks, and a rocket slammed into the nearby headquarters of the multinational peacekeeping force March 30.
Lt. Col. Paul Kolken, a spokesman for the peacekeepers that patrol Kabul, said there were unconfirmed reports that the Afghan soldiers shot first, firing at a passing car in front of the U.S. Embassy for unknown reasons.
"In doing so, they fired in the direction of the American embassy and the American soldiers standing guard there returned fire," Kolken said, adding that first shots were fired just after 10 a.m. He said the incident was under investigation.
U.S. Embassy spokesman Alberto Fernandez said "heightened tensions led to a live fire incident between U.S. Marines defending the embassy and Afghan military forces."
"Both sides will continue to meet and work to ensure security in the area. The U.S. Embassy regrets the loss of life in this incident," Fernandez said, refusing further comment.
International peacekeepers in armored trucks mounted with machine guns tried to block off the area around the embassy following the shooting, with Afghan military vehicles blocking streets leading to the U.S. compound.
Italian peacekeepers were sent to the scene, as were French peacekeepers who provided medical aid, the force said in a statement.
Also Wednesday, President Bush (news - web sites)'s special envoy to Afghanistan (news - web sites), Zalmay Khalilzad, was in Kabul to meet with senior officials. His convoy left the embassy about two hours after the shooting, heading toward the Presidential Palace at the end of the street.
In a separate incident, a U.S. special forces soldier was lightly wounded Tuesday in an explosion that appeared to be caused by a homemade bomb in the eastern town of Gardez, the U.S. military said in a statement Wednesday from its headquarters at Bagram Air Base. No other details were available.
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