An Afghan police commander said that NATO helicopters killed six community police on Friday as the military announced it was sending a team to investigate the charges.
Dozens of Afghans demonstrated in the eastern city of Khost alleging Western military helicopters killed the officers. Police sought to calm their anger.
A unit of community police, a militia-style force recently launched to fight Taliban insurgents in remote villages, opened fire on a NATO helicopter, Khost provincial police chief Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai told the crowd.
“The helicopter returned and dropped bombs on them and killed six Arbakis (community police),” he added.
From its headquarters in Kabul, the US-led NATO military known as the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said its helicopters killed five men armed with weapons.
“The ISAF helicopters identified a group of individuals with weapons moving from a previously identified enemy position near Sinzai Kalay village.
“As a result of this operation, ISAF is aware of civilian casualty allegations and ISAF Joint Command is sending a joint incident assessment team to look into those allegations.”
Friendly fire incidents and the deaths of civilians during foreign military operations are incendiary issues in Afghanistan, where the Taliban are waging a nine-year uprising against the Western-backed government.