US troops injure three Afghan soldiers

Jumpy US soldiers opened fire on a taxi in Kabul today, wounding three officers of Afghanistan's fledgling national army which…

Jumpy US soldiers opened fire on a taxi in Kabul today, wounding three officers of Afghanistan's fledgling national army which US forces have been helping to train.

The incident happened in the east of the city on a road leading to bases used by foreign peacekeepers and US forces.

"Three officers of the Afghan National Army were wounded," said Ahmad-uddin, a police officer at the scene.

The US military said US military police had opened fire after their two vehicles were approached by a taxi "driving aggressively" and following an earlier bomb attack on a coalition convoy southwest of Kabul.

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"The MPs attempted to wave off the taxi, but the taxi continued to aggressively approach the convoy," spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Lefforge said in a statement.

"An MP in the rear vehicle fired into the grill of the taxi with an M-16 rifle. When the taxi did not back off, the MP fired into the taxi. The taxi struck the rear of the MP vehicle when the MP vehicle stopped."

The statement said the incident happened after the US soldiers were unable to enter a US base by its main gate because of the discovery of unexploded ordnance nearby and were heading to another gate.

It added that this morning, a two-vehicle convoy from the US-led coalition's Civil Affairs component was attacked with three improvised bombs about 26 km (16 miles) southwest of Kabul en route to a school project.