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| Afghan clash kills police chief | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| The provincial police chief and nine other police have been killed in a clash with US-trained Afghan guards in southern Kandahar province. | |
| A gun battle erupted after the guards, who are employed by US security forces, entered the prosecutor's office. | |
| They were trying to free a colleague who was being detained at the building in Kandahar city, the BBC was told. | |
| Kandahar is a Taliban stronghold, but the Taliban are not thought to be involved in this incident. | |
| Interior ministry spokesman Zamaray Bashary condemned the attack. | |
| "Those who carried out the attack which killed the police chief along with other police are criminals. They will be dealt with," he told the BBC. | |
| Gun battle | Gun battle |
| The clash happened after the guards - who provide security for the American military - entered the prosecutor's office in Kandahar city. | The clash happened after the guards - who provide security for the American military - entered the prosecutor's office in Kandahar city. |
| They were attempting to remove a colleague who had been arrested by the authorities, local officials told the BBC. | |
| It was not immediately clear what triggered the shooting, but the BBC has been told that what began as a fist fight erupted into a gun battle. | It was not immediately clear what triggered the shooting, but the BBC has been told that what began as a fist fight erupted into a gun battle. |
| Ahmad Wali Karzai, head of Kandahar's provincial council and a brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, said Kandahar's police chief and the criminal investigation police chief were among the dead. | |
| "In a shoot-out between Afghan security guards and police, 10 policemen... have been killed," he said. | |
| The police chief has been named as Matiullah Qatay and the head of the criminal investigation department as Abdul Khaliq Hamdam. | The police chief has been named as Matiullah Qatay and the head of the criminal investigation department as Abdul Khaliq Hamdam. |
| The US military spokesman in Kabul, Col Greg Julian, confirmed to the AFP news agency that there had been "an incident" but did not have details. | |
| "I am not sure which unit was involved," he said. "It does appear that there were some Afghan police casualties". | |
| Some witnesses at the scene had said US forces were at the scene of the incident, but this is unconfirmed. | |
| A spokesman for Nato-led forces in Afghanistan said they were looking into the incident. | A spokesman for Nato-led forces in Afghanistan said they were looking into the incident. |
| Kandahar is the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban. It has seen an increase in violence in recent years and shootings are common, the BBC's Martin Patience in Kabul says. | Kandahar is the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban. It has seen an increase in violence in recent years and shootings are common, the BBC's Martin Patience in Kabul says. |
| It is a key battleground in the fight between the Taliban insurgency and the Afghan government and coalition forces. |