Officials Probe Western Afghanistan Shooting Incident

WASHINGTON, Aug. 25, 2010 — Offi­cials are inves­ti­gat­ing a shoot­ing inci­dent today in west­ern Afghanistan’s Badghis province that left an Afghan Nation­al Police mem­ber, two Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force ser­vice­mem­bers and a civil­ian dead.

The cause of the shoot­ing inci­dent is still unclear, ISAF Joint Com­mand offi­cials said, but reports indi­cate that dur­ing a men­tor­ing ses­sion between ISAF forces and Afghan Nation­al Police, an ANP mem­ber fired sev­er­al rounds and ISAF mem­bers returned fire. The ANP mem­ber was killed, along with the two ISAF sol­diers and the civilian. 

After the inci­dent, a demon­stra­tion occurred near the camp where the shoot­ing took place. Afghan sol­diers and police mon­i­tored the demon­stra­tion, offi­cials said, adding that fur­ther details would be released as they become available. 

In oth­er news from Afghanistan, a com­bined Afghan police and ISAF patrol found a large weapons cache in Uruz­gan province’s Deh Rawud dis­trict yes­ter­day. The cache of 150 rock­et-pro­pelled grenades was destroyed at a near­by coali­tion facility. 

Else­where, an Afghan boy was killed and anoth­er boy was wound­ed when insur­gents attacked Afghan and ISAF sol­diers Aug. 23 in Log­ar province’s Pul‑e Alam district. 

Offi­cials said the sol­diers were attacked while con­duct­ing a search near a com­pound. The com­bined force, rec­og­niz­ing the risk to civil­ians in the area, did not return fire, offi­cials said, but instead moved a mine-resis­tant, ambush-pro­tect­ed vehi­cle between the civil­ians and the attack­ing insur­gents when they saw two chil­dren who were flee­ing the area fall to the ground. Insur­gents’ small-arms fire hit only the two boys. 

A medic rushed to the children’s aid and began to treat their injuries. The unit request­ed a med­ical evac­u­a­tion air­craft for the injured boys and sup­port from armed heli­copters in the fight against the insur­gent element. 

The boys, both in their teens, were trans­port­ed by coali­tion vehi­cles to a coali­tion hos­pi­tal. The elder boy died, and the younger boy under­went surgery for wounds to his legs. 

Source:
Com­piled from Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force Joint Com­mand News Releases 

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