Pentagon: Errant U.S. airstrike killed Afghan security forces

KABUL, Afghanistan — An errant U.S. airstrike confirmed by the Pentagon killed 12 Afghan National Police officers and wounded two others, as another 11 police were killed and six wounded in clashes with the Taliban, Afghan officials said Saturday.

The death toll in Friday’s airstrike was determined after a site inspection of the compound in the Gereshk district, Helmand provincial police officials said.

The United States in a statement confirmed that the airstrike on the Security Forces compound occurred during a U.S.-supported operation against Taliban insurgents in the area. In the statement, the U.S. offered its condolences to the families of the security forces who were killed.

While much of Helmand province is under the control of Taliban, Afghan national security forces have been waging fierce battles to retake territory. NATO and U.S. troops are in Helmand to assist Afghan troops.

Afghan officials said the dead were police officers who were operating with the army in the area and that they had recaptured the post from the Taliban when the airstrike occurred. On Friday, Helmand Gov. Hayatullah Hayat said it was believed the police officers were not in uniform, which may have resulted in them being mistakenly identified as Taliban fighters.

Meanwhile, in northern Badakhshan province Gov. Ahmad Faisal Bigzad said Saturday that 11 police were killed and another six wounded during a battle with Taliban insurgents in the remote Tagab region.

In western Farah province, a ferocious gun battle between the Afghan army and Taliban insurgents left six Afghan soldiers dead and 12 Taliban killed, said Mohammad Naser Mehri, spokesman for the provincial governor.