Afghanistan (Reuters) -- Afghanistan said on Sunday it was deeply concerned about a U.S. military operation which killed five Afghans that police officials said were civilians, but U.S. forces insisted were militants.The U.S. military said it killed five militants and detained four others, with the help of Afghan troops, in the northern province of Kunduz, which borders Tajikistan. "One militant was killed and one surrendered and was detained ... Forces returned fire and cleared the buildings on the compounds, resulting in four militants killed and three suspected militants detained," U.S. forces said in a statement.
The Interior Ministry described the dead as "our citizens" and said in a statement it would send a high profile delegation to Kunduz to investigate the raid. "Five of our citizens were killed ... they were killed in the house of the district mayor," the ministry said, adding that it "expressed its deep concern regarding the incident."
The obvious question is "What were Tali/AQ gunmen doing in the house of the mayor?"
U.S. forces also said the operation was "in coordination with local Afghan police" but a senior police official in Emamsaheb district, where the operation took place, told Reuters they were not involved, nor aware of the operation.
My bet: we were coordinated with Afghan police, but not the district police, because they were part of the problem we were attacking.
Colonel Abdulrahman Aqtash, head of security operations for Kunduz province, also said the dead were civilians working for the district mayor; two were his guards and three were his servants.
Julian said the individuals were given the chance by U.S. troops to exit their compound peacefully, but "they came out fighting and they died fighting ... It's very difficult to classify them as civilians under those conditions."
They were not in uniform, so they were civilians! Pay no attention to the AK-47 bullets they are shooting at you.
Colonel Julian said U.S. forces were in touch with the Interior Ministry and the Afghan chief of police and an investigation into the operation would take place.
On Thursday a raid against al Qaeda bomb-makers, in which foreign and Afghan troops killed two militants in east Afghanistan, led to angry protests by Afghans who said civilians had been killed in the operation.
These dead 'civilians' - terrible.
Separately, a roadside bomb attack hit a passing van, killing one passenger and wounding 11 others, just outside Khost city, close to the border with Pakistan, Daad Mohammad, an intelligence officer said.
These dead civilians - no big deal.