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Karzai asks Coalition for police-killers

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-06-29 22:24

KABUL: Afghan President Hamid K Karzai strongly condemned the killing of policemen by personnel of a private security company on Monday and called upon the US-led Coalition forces to hand them over for investigation, a press release issued by his office said.

File photo shows an Afghan soldier on guard at a checkpoint in Kabul. [Agencies]

"President Hamid Karzai has asked the Coalition forces to immediately hand over the private security guards who involved in the killing of Kandahar province security officials," the press release added.

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The press release added, President Karzai said such incidents negatively impact the state building process in Afghanistan and called upon Coalition forces to avoid actions that weaken the government.

Reports suggested that gunmen of a private security company employed by the US-led Coalition Forces based in the Southern Afghanistan Monday attacked the prosecutor's office of Kandahar province to release a prisoner and opened fire on the police officials after facing resistance.

Provincial police chief Matiullah Khan Qati were among the seven policemen killed in the clash.

The president also ordered the Defense Minister, Interior Minister, National Security Directorate and the Attorney General to launch an investigation into the incident.

However, the US-led Coalition forces rejected any role in Kandahar firefight, saying neither Coalition nor NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were involved in the incident.    

"The incident was an Afghan-on-Afghan incident, and did not involve US or international personnel or equipment," the statement of the alliance stressed.