NATO attack mistakenly kills 5 Afghan soldiers

[Forkboy]

KABUL, Afghanistan — A botched NATO airstrike killed five Afghan soldiers after they were mistaken for insurgents early yesterday, highlighting continued weak coordination between international troops and the local security forces they are striving to build.

An Afghan defense official condemned the “friendly fire’’ deaths in the eastern province of Ghazni. They came as three more American troops were reported killed in the south and Britain announced it would turn over control of a violence-plagued southern district to US forces.

US General David Petraeus, the newly arrived commander of international forces in Afghanistan, offered personal condolences to the families of the dead Afghan soldiers, a spokesman said.

A joint Afghan-international investigation was continuing into how the mistake happened, NATO spokesman Brigadier General Josef Blotz said.

“We were obviously not absolutely clear whether there were Afghan national security forces in the area,’’ Blotz said, suggesting there was a failure in communication.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2010/07/08/nato_attack_mistakenly_kills_5_afghan_soldiers/