NATO forces attacked and killed a pair of private security contractors last night in the Wardak Province, officials are confirming. The troops reportedly mistook the contractors for insurgents.
The NATO patrol had just come under fire from insurgents and say they believe the contractors were chasing the same insurgents. When the troops saw the contractors speeding they assumed they were the insurgents in question and opened fire.
The attack is just the latest in a growing number of “mistaken identity” killings by NATO troops, including an air strike yesterday against what turned out to be a group of young children collecting scrap metal on the side of a mountain.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has promised to ban private security contractors from the country and wants the national police force to take their place. Given incidents like these, however, it seems like that may just make the job of Afghanistan’s ill-trained poorly paid police even more dangerous.
Doesn't contractors kill civilians…like Blackwater?
oops sorry – collateral damage.
Now this is just too funny. It would be even more hilarious if we learned that the mercenaries whacked by our brave troops actually WERE Blackwater!