US strike kills 16 Afghan police who were trying to clear village of Taliban
A US air strike killed 16 policemen in Afghanistan as security forces tried to clear a village of Taliban militants.
The attack took place in Helmand province on Friday, said Salam Afghan, a police spokesman.
“In the strike, 16 Afghan policemen were killed, including two commanders. Two other policemen were wounded,” he said.
It hit a compound in the Gereshk district of Helmand, large parts of which are under Taliban control.
“A US-supported operation resulted in the deaths of friendly Afghan forces who were gathered in a compound,” Nato’s mission in Afghanistan said.
“We would like to express our deepest condolences to the families affected.”
Nato said there would be an investigation into the deaths.
Interior ministry spokesman Najeeb Danish said a delegation had been sent to help the families of the dead.
For years, Helmand province was the centrepiece of US and British military intervention in embattled Afghanistan.
But the Taliban now effectively controls or contests 10 of the province’s 14 districts, where a huge opium harvest helps to fund the insurgency.
In April, about 300 US marines returned to the province as Afghan security forces struggled to beat back the resurgent militant movement.
The surge helped Afghan security forces, backed by US air strikes, to recapture Helmand’s Nawa district six months ago.
Friday’s strike came as Pentagon chief Gen Jim Mattis finalised plans to present a new Afghanistan strategy to try to reverse what US generals call a stalemate.
In February, a US air strike in Sangin killed 18 civilians, mostly women and children.
In November last year, 32 Afghan civilians were killed in a US air strike in the north-eastern province of Kunduz.