Kandahar police shoot it out with new foe - themselves

by GRAEME SMITH; February 6, 2008 - The Globe & Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080206.AF...

For the third time in recent months a gunfight erupts within the ranks of area security forces, leaving three officers dead

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN -- The biggest firefight in Kandahar city over the past few weeks was not a battle against insurgents but a squabble among Afghan police, the provincial police chief has confirmed.

Local radio initially reported that gunfire heard in Kandahar's northern slums on Sunday afternoon was a skirmish between police and Taliban, but witnesses later said the fighting erupted after local police caught a group of fellow officers trying to buy opium.

Three police were killed and five wounded and a civilian was injured in the crossfire, Police Chief Sayed Agha Saqib said.

It's at least the third time in the past eight months that deadly gunfights have erupted within the ranks of Kandahar's security forces, even after Canada has focused attention on training the police and Canadian politicians describe Afghan forces as taking greater responsibility for local security.

"There was an argument," the police chief said. "These things happen among the police sometimes."

The dispute started about 1 p.m. Sunday when a marked police vehicle, a green Ranger pickup truck, approached a police checkpoint near the Siman Pul bridge in the Loy Wiyala neighbourhood, Chief Saqib said.

The local police asked the visiting officers to show their identification cards, the police chief said; such checks have grown more common after recent attacks in which Taliban masqueraded as police or soldiers.

"One of the officers seemed intoxicated," Chief Saqib said. "He refused to show his card."

The local checkpoint commander called for backup, more police arrived from a downtown station, and a battle ensued, Chief Saqib said.

Three of the vehicle's occupants were killed and the other three remain under police guard at Mirwais Hospital, he said.

Other reports gave different casualty figures, with as many as four killed and nine wounded.

Aminullah, a 23-year-old officer who saw the battle, said the police in the green vehicle were visitors from nearby Zhari district, and they aroused suspicion by walking into roadside shops known to sell drugs.

When the local checkpoint commander demanded to know their identity, Aminullah said, the visiting officers refused to answer his questions.

"We called to Saqib," the officer said, referring to the police chief.

"Saqib said, 'Arrest them and bring them to the police station.' Saqib sent us many police to arrest them. When the other police came, the Zhari police didn't want to give up their weapons. So the fighting started."

Drug addiction is a serious problem among Afghan police. During a visit to a police outpost, an obviously intoxicated officer attempted to give a reporter for The Globe and Mail a fist-sized ball of dark paste - hashish, apparently - in exchange for a magazine.

The officers who caused the latest problems were stationed in a cluster of villages known as Kolk, in the dangerous zone southwest of Kandahar city where Canadians continue their push to keep insurgents away from urban areas.

The most bloody battles between Afghan forces last year happened on the other side of the Arghandab River, in the areas of Talokan and Mushan.

For several days in June, officers from the 05 Police Standby Battalion said they were besieged in a concrete outpost and watched three of their friends die slowly of gunshot wounds, unable to take them to hospital as they remained trapped by hostile fire from other Afghan forces.

At least a dozen police died in those clashes, which resulted in the removal of the 05 Battalion from the district. Soon afterward, the Canadians hastily set up the Police Operational Mentoring Liaison Team, reassigning soldiers originally trained to teach Afghan troops into the POMLT in an attempt to professionalize the police.

Other violence continued in the same districts yesterday as a roadside bomb exploded about 40 kilometres west of the city, near a police substation.

Two Canadian soldiers were lightly injured with cuts and bruises, and have returned to work. The military did not disclose the type of vehicle they were using, but said it protected them from more serious injury.

"The vehicle did its job," said Captain Josée Bilodeau, a spokeswoman.

Another bomb in Kandahar yesterday hit a police vehicle, killing two officers and injuring three others, the police chief said.