World Watch
June 29, 2009 6:02 AM

9 Afghan Cops, Including Chief, Killed In Kandahar

By
Fazul Rahim
Topics
World Watch
This story was filed by CBS News' Fazul Rahim in Kabul.
(AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
At least nine Afghan police have been killed in an apparent shootout with private Afghan security contractors at a government office in Kandahar. The provincial police chief and head of the criminal investigations department were among the dead, according to a local official.

At left, 2nd Lt. Malachi Bennett from Tampa, Fla. of the 2nd MEB, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines patrols with fellow Marines to the village of Khwaja Jamal in Afghanistan's Helmand province, June 28, 2009.

Ahmad Wali Karzai, head of Kandahar provincial council, said a group of Afghan contractors who provide security for foreign troops stationed in the country's volatile south forced their way into the office of the provincial attorney general Monday morning.

Karzai, who is the brother of Afghan president Hamid Karzai said the group was there in an attempt to free a colleague arrested earlier by police by force.

Afghan national police intervened to resolve the standoff, but a firefight broke out between police and the security contractors.

Kandahar police chief Mattiullah Qate and eight other police officers were killed and six others injured, according to Karzai.

He was not able to confirm the nationalities of the security contractors involved, but did describe them as Afghan. Karzai did not have any information on casualties amongst the security contractors, but he added that the situation in the city had returned to normal.

A high ranking delegation from Kabul was sent to Kandahar to investigate the incident.

Add a Comment
by Afghan-voice June 30, 2009 10:37 PM EDT
The US special forces are running a parallel government there. They hire all sorts of criminals. These men have been implicated by the Afghan Police before. Masked men from the same compound have abducted a young boy and sexually assaulted him. On many other occupation they have tortured and killed people. This incident started when the Afghan Police arrested a person who was carrying explosives in an unlicensed vehicle. He was held by the Police for questioning but mask men from this compound demanded his release without any explanation. After a few days the Afghan police compound was surrounded and they killed the chief of Kandahar police and the chief of the criminal bureau along with 8 other police. They killed these men because the Afghan police head knew what they US Special Forces are upto! Suicide bombing is another dirty dame waged by the US Special Forces in our region!
Reply to this comment
by rhs648 June 29, 2009 8:11 AM EDT
Look how posters so quickly and gleefully blame the United States. The ink isn't even dry yet but it is ok to condemn the United States. The article has more holes in it than swiss cheese. Without more information to fill in the holes, it is impossible to draw any valid conclusions.
Reply to this comment
by ajjaxtheleast June 29, 2009 7:33 AM EDT
Opps,,,we forgot to add here,, the security contractors
were U.S.-TRINED AND EMPLOYED BY THE AMERICAN MILITARY.

That bit of addendum was compliments the BBC,,,,

I guess the BBC didn't yet receive their
publishing points yet,,,

I hate to have to say this but this belongs
to Obama,,,

George Bush if nothing else proved that the president of
the USA can do any thing that he wants,,,If Obama wanted
to he could end this "project" in Afghanistan,,,

So we killed the provincial police chief and 6 to 10
other police in another country,,,and nobody here will
grasp the essence of that or worse yet even try.
Reply to this comment
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