Nato air strike ‘mistakenly’ kills Afghan policemen

KUNDUZ: A Nato air strike mistakenly killed seven Afghan police and wounded two others in northern Afghanistan on Thursday, Afghan officials said.

Nato called in an air strike and "the Afghan forces were bombed by mistake,". - File Photo

"Around 2:30 pm, an Afghan army, police and Nato patrol were attacked by Taliban in Imam Sahib district (in Kunduz province)," Afghan interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told AFP in the capital Kabul.

Nato called in an air strike and "the Afghan forces were bombed by mistake," the spokesman said.

"Seven policemen were killed, including two officers, and two policemen were wounded," he said.

The director of the main hospital in Kunduz, Noor Ull-Haq Hakimi, confirmed that the bodies of seven policemen were brought in along with two who were wounded after the incident.

The incident comes with 15,000 US, Nato and Afghan forces pressing a major offensive against a key Taliban bastion in the south, where progress has been slowed by hidden bombs and militants allegedly hiding behind human shields.