Kabul - NATO-led British soldiers killed an Afghan policeman in southern Afghanistan, while 17 suspected Taliban were killed by US-led troops elsewhere in the country, military officials said Sunday. The NATO forces killed the policeman when they opened fire on his vehicle, which failed to stop despite warnings and was seen as threat by soldiers in Lashkargah, the provincial capital for southern Helmend province on Saturday, the alliance said in a statement.
One passenger was wounded in the incident and was taken to an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) hospital, but he succumbed to his injuries, ISAF statement said.
"It was later established that the individual who was shot was a member of the Afghan National Police," the statement said.
Several Afghan civilians have been killed by ISAF forces when their vehicles approached NATO convoys or patrols.
Wary of suicide bombings that are mostly carried out by vehicles packed with explosives, NATO forces have targeted dozens of Afghan civilians in the past in what they call "escalation of force procedures."
Meanwhile, US-led coalition forces killed 16 suspected militants in an operation in the Sorobi district of Kabul province on Saturday, the US military said in a statement.
The operation targeted senior commanders of Hezbi Islami network, an associate group of Taliban forces, the statement said, adding the commander was known to be heavily involved in directing and facilitating roadside bomb attacks throughout eastern Afghanistan.
Sorobi district police chief, Abdul Jalil Shamal, said that the operation killed an insurgent commander, Ghazi and his fighters, who were behind the attack on French soldiers in August this year. The attack killed ten NATO-led French soldiers and wounded more than 20 others.
In another incident, US-led coalition forces killed one insurgent and detained ten others in a separate operation in Zadran district of the south-eastern province of Paktia on Saturday, the statement said.
The militants were members of the Haqqani network, an associate group of Taliban militants, who have been involved in terrorist activities in the region.
Meanwhile, Afghan and ISAF forces detained 27 Taliban militants and killed an unknown number of them in three separate operations in southern Kandahar province in the past three days, ISAF said in a statement.
An Afghan army soldier was also killed and another was wounded in two separate incidents in Kandahar province on Saturday, defence ministry statement said.
More than 4,000 people - mostly insurgents - have been killed in Afghanistan violence so far this year.
