LASHKARGAH (Pajhwok): Nine Afghan security personnel have been killed and a dozen more wounded in an airstrike by in southern Helmand province, officials confirmed on Monday.
Omar Zwak, the governor's spokesman, told Pajhwok Afghan News a security checkpoint in the Adam Khan area of Greshk district came under mistaken attack late on Sunday.
Nine soldiers were killed and 12 others wounded in the bombing, according to the official, who had no information whether NATO troops or the Afghan Air Firce (AAF) conducted the raid.
But Abdul Qadeer Bahadarzai, deputy spokesman for the 215th Maiwand Military Corps, said the airstrike was conducted by AAF on the basis of flawed intelligence from the National Directorate of Security.
Gul Agha Muslim, a member of the Gareshk district's local council, put the death toll at 10. He told a foreign media outlet the victims were from Afghan National Police and intelligence service, NDS.
The bombs were dropped on members of a special militia unit called Sangoryan, who wear local clothes to blend into areas where the Taliban are active
Zwak said the bombing was part of an operation to purge parts of the district of Taliban and enforce the government’s writ. “We are investigating which air force conducted the raid.”
More than a dozen policemen had been killed in a flawed airstrike by US troops in Greshk district In July.
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