F-16 Fighting Falcon
© Photo by AFPIn this February 1, 2016 US Air Force handout photo, a pilot performs preflight checks from the cockpit of an F-16 Fighting Falcon at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan
NATO has launched a probe into the deaths of some 15 Afghan police officers who were killed in a US air strike in eastern Afghanistan.

Logar provincial council chief Hamidullah Hamid on Tuesday said that "foreign forces" had bombed two police checkpoints and killed "about 15 police."

Interior Ministry Spokesman Nasrat Rahimi, confirmed the incident saying that over nine police officers were killed and 14 more injured during the aerial bombardment of the Azra district of the province.

Afghan forces battling Taliban "called in air support but unfortunately foreign forces mistakenly bombed their positions," Rahimi added.


Comment: The aerial bombardment also wounded some 14 officers, according to AFP, who reported that the strike came after Afghan officials were engaged in an "hours-long battle with insurgents overnight."
Per Nasrat Rahimi, spokesperson for the Afghan Interior Ministry, the incident took place after Afghan forces called on US officials for back up. However, communication was somehow mixed up, and US forces targeted the wrong location. "[Afghan officials] called in air support, but unfortunately foreign forces mistakenly bombed their position," Rahimi said.

NATO's mission in Afghanistan confirmed that air strikes had been carried out "in defense of Afghan forces" and by their request in Azra district without referring to casualties.

"We are looking into the matter further," said Resolute Support spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Martin O'Donnell.

In July, Fourteen members of a family, including three children, were killed in an airstrike in the northern Afghanistan province of Kunduz.

The deaths occurred in the Chahar Dara district during a battle against the Taliban involving US and Afghan airstrikes, according to reports.