Asia

Asia

Afghan officials probe NATO raid

24 December 2010 19:12 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Afghan authorities said Friday they were investigating an overnight raid by NATO troops on a private security company that killed two Afghan guards in an operation that NATO said was conducted following a threat against the U.S. Embassy, APA reports quoting â€œAssociated Pressâ€.
Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary said the probe was looking into why international forces raided the compound of Tiger International, an Afghan private security company, killing two Afghan guards and wounding another two.
But NATO said the operation was conducted jointly with Afghan forces after receiving "a credible threat to attack the U.S. Embassy." It said coalition forces "coordinated with Afghan security forces" and moved into an area where intelligence reports had located two vehicles thought to be loaded with explosives.
The coalition forces were fired on after they had announced their arrival, and they returned fire, killing two of the shooters, NATO’s statement said. Two others were wounded, it said, and 15 people were detained in the operation.
The detained were released after a senior Afghan army official arrived and "personally vouched" for them, NATO said. A large amount of weapons was also seized.
However, Kabul criminal investigation chief Mohammad Zahir insisted there had been no coordination with Afghan authorities before the raid, and that the Afghan guards had not opened fire on the coalition troops. He said the only arms seized were several weapons belonging to the security guards.
Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi said his ministry was not aware of the operation either.
President Hamid Karzai has ordered private security companies in Afghanistan to be disbanded, although some will be exempt, such as those protecting diplomatic missions or aid and development projects. Earlier this week, the Interior Ministry official in charge of the process, Gen. Abdul Manan Farahi, said 57 such firms had already been shut down.
The incident comes after two cases this week in which NATO forces killed Afghan civilians, either during a battle with insurgents or after acting on intelligence relating to suspected militants.
The issue of night raids and civilians killed during operations is particularly troubling for NATO and the Afghan government, and the international coalition says it is careful to avoid such casualties.
In the country’s violent eastern province of Khost, a bomb went off Friday on the road between an army base and the nearby town of Khost, killing an Afghan soldier and a passing rickshaw driver, said provincial chief of police Abdul Hakim Esaqzai. He said the blast also wounded another Afghan soldier.
An internal review of President Barack Obama’s year-old war strategy released recently noted progress against the Taliban in south Afghanistan â€” their traditional stronghold where the U.S. deployed an additional 30,000 American troops this year and where much of the fiercest fighting has been concentrated.
But violence continues across the country, and Khost, which lies on the border with Pakistan, has often been the site of attacks.
Also Friday, NATO said a suspected Taliban "weapons facilitator" detained several days ago in southern Afghanistan was not a member of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard.
The statement from the coalition came after several news reports said the man, taken into custody by NATO on Dec. 18, was a member of a Revolutionary Guard unit responsible for operations outside Iran.
NATO said initial intelligence reports had indicated the suspect implicated in the movement of weapons between Iran and the southern Afghan province of Kandahar was a member of the Guard’s Quds Force. But further investigation revealed he was not linked to the unit.
Iran has been accused of aiding the Taliban and other insurgents in Afghanistan through funding and weapons.