Four Afghan soldiers were killed by friendly fire from NATO-led forces on Saturday, officials said, while three civilians and two US soldiers died in other incidents, dpa reported. The friendly fire occurred when the Afghan troops clashed with US soldiers returning from a nighttime operation in the central province of Wardak, a spokesman for the provincial governor said. "Four Afghan national army soldiers were killed and seven were wounded," Shahidullah Shahid said. He did not say if there were casualties among the US forces. A NATO plane also fired on an Afghan army post, which was recently erected near a highway in Wardak's Sayed Abad district, he said. The Defence Ministry condemned the killing of the soldiers, saying in a statement that those responsible must be punished under military law. "The deputy provincial governor is leading an investigation in the area right now, but what I can say at the moment is that maybe there was some misunderstanding between the two sides because the army post was very new in the area," Shahid said. A NATO military spokesman in Kabul said the alliance was looking into the incident, which could increase friction between Afghan forces and NATO at a time when more partnership is needed to turn the tide against the Taliban insurgents. Separately, NATO-led forces opened fire on a vehicle in the southern province of Ghazni on Friday, killing two Afghan civilians and wounding another, an alliance statement said.
