The NATO-led force in Afghanistan on Wednesday dismissed claims by Afghan police that its troops had killed up to 10 guards in a friendly fire incident, saying it killed only one armed man.
The deputy police chief for the southern province of Ghazni claimed Tuesday that foreign helicopters struck a group of private Afghan security guards escorting a logistics convoy through the restive province.
Mohammad Hussain Yaqoubi added that between eight to 10 guards were killed in the incident.
But NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said it had targeted a group of "armed individuals" seen setting up an ambush position as a patrol moved towards them.
"The air weapons team declared an imminent threat and engaged the ambush position, killing one," it said in a statement. One armed man was killed and several others were injured and subsquently detained, it added.
"ISAF is aware of media reports of an air weapons team killing private security guards in a logistics convoy," the statement said.
"After a review of all operational reporting, ISAF can confirm there was not an ISAF logistics convoy in the area at the time."
The statement said that "current reporting indicates the armed individuals are not security contractors."
There are about 130,000 international troops in Afghanistan fighting a nearly decade-long Taliban-led insurgency.
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