(International News)Nato troops gun down Afghan Dist governor

Coalition soldier among several killed

Afghan police alleged yesterday that international troops shot dead a district governor thinking he was Taliban, while five policemen and a Nato soldier were slain in various attacks. The Nato-led multinational force said it was investigating the claim that its troops had killed the district governor and two of his men in the southern province of Uruzgan late Wednesday. The alleged incident comes amid growing concern about civilian deaths in military action against insurgents, a sore point touched on by US Defence Secretary Roberts Gates during a visit to Kabul on Wednesday. The governor of Chora district, Rozi Khan, and two of his men were shot dead as they were going to help a friend who believed that Taliban fighters had surrounded his home, Uruzgan police commander Gulab Khan told AFP. The men outside the man's home were international forces, who in turn mistook Khan and his associates for Taliban attackers, Gulab Khan said. The police commander also said that three of his policemen were killed and one badly wounded when a bomb hit their patrol on Thursday. A Taliban spokesman told journalists that his group had planted the mine. Two more policemen were killed Thursday when Taliban attacked a police post in the town of Sharan near the eastern border with Pakistan. "Two policemen were martyred and four others were injured after Taliban riding two motorbikes attacked their posts," deputy provincial governor Malik Tanai told AFP. Nato's International Security Assistance Force said one of its soldiers was killed in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday after coming under fire from insurgents. Isaf did not give the nationality of its latest casualty but most soldiers in the area are US nationals. Meanwhile, the Afghan defence ministry said its forces had killed three insurgents in the southern province of Zabul. Afghanistan is battered by near-daily attacks as the Taliban, who were removed from government in late 2001, lead a growing insurgency. Civilian casualties in military action against the rebels is of particular concern since it threatens to undermine the support of ordinary Afghans for the US-led "war on terror." Gates announced Wednesday a joint probe with Afghanistan into one of the worst incidents -- August 22 air strikes that Afghan and UN officials say killed 90 civilians. US forces give a far lower civilian death toll.