Karzai: Afghan guards employed by US killed police

[June 29, 2009]  KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) -- President Hamid Karzai accused Afghan guards working for U.S. coalition forces of killing a provincial police chief and at least four other security officers Monday, and he demanded that American forces hand over the guards involved.

Karzai's call suggested that U.S. coalition members were protecting Afghan security forces involved in a raid on the attorney general's office in Kandahar city, the country's largest southern city and a stronghold of the Taliban.

However, a U.S. military spokesman, Chief Petty Officer Brian Naranjo, said no American forces from any branches -- including special operations forces -- were present or involved in the incident.

Gunfire broke out after Afghan and U.S. forces moved into a heavily protected government complex in Kandahar and ordered employees to stay indoors, said Mohammad Khan, an employee in the attorney general's office.

Hafizullah Khaliqyar, the district attorney in Kandahar, said that about 50 Afghan security forces dressed in military fatigues and carrying guns burst into the office complex, demanding the release of a man accused of falsifying documents. When the troops threatened to release the man by force, Khaliqyar called the provincial police chief, he said.

"After that, when the police chief wanted to talk to these people, there was some argument, and the gunbattle started," Khaliqyar said.

Ahmad Wali Karzai, the brother of the president and a top official in Kandahar, said provincial Police Chief Matiullah Qati was among 10 policemen killed. The provincial head of the criminal investigations department also died, he said.

The statement from President Karzai said five people died. The reason for the discrepancy wasn't clear.

"President Hamid Karzai demanded that coalition forces hand over the private security individuals belonging to coalition forces responsible for the killing of Kandahar provincial security officials to the relevant security authorities of the Afghan government," the statement from the president's office said.

A U.S. military spokeswoman, Lt. Cmdr. Christine Sidenstricker, said that Afghan forces were trying to free people in custody in the government complex when the shooting happened. She said she couldn't immediately say whether U.S. forces were present during the shooting, but she said that Afghan forces killed the Afghan officials.

The area was sealed by U.S. forces after the shooting, an Associated Press reporter at the scene said.

Kandahar is the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban, an Islamic militia that ruled Afghanistan in the 1990s and was ousted during the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

The Taliban has made a comeback in the last three years, wreaking havoc in much of the country's south and east, including Kandahar, and forcing President Barack Obama's administration to pour thousands of troops into a war U.S. officials once said had been won.

Taliban militants have launched several sophisticated attacks in Kandahar over the last year. But gun fights between U.S. and Afghan troops have also happened several times in recent years.

[Associated Press; By NOOR KHAN]

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