By Xinhua,
Kabul : Five Afghan National Army soldiers were wounded by friendly fire from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in eastern Afghan province of Kunar on Sunday, an ISAF statement released here said.
“The ANA troops were on a patrol in the Pech district of Kunar in the vicinity of an ISAF combat outpost and ISAF troops fired on what they suspected were Anti-Afghan Forces within the area,” the statement said.
“The ANA were provided with immediate medical attention and were evacuated to the nearest medical facility,” it said.
“It is with deep regret that this incident has taken place and we have initiated an investigation to determine how this happened and how to prevent any future occurrences,” it quoted an ISAF commander Col. John Spiszer as saying.
Such mistakes by international troops during military operations have claimed hundreds of lives over the past seven years in war-torn Afghanistan and the bloodiest one in 2008 left 91 non-combatants dead in the western Herat province on Aug. 22 which triggered a widespread protest across the war-torn country.
Conflicts and Taliban-related militancy have claimed the lives of around 5,000 people so far this year in Afghanistan.