Nine police die in Afghan friendly fire

FARAH, Afghanistan, July 20 (UPI) -- Nine police officers were killed by friendly fire in southwestern Afghanistan Sunday, military officials said.

An Afghan army general said the police were mistaken for Taliban militants and died in an airstrike conducted by U.S and Afghan forces in the country's Farah province, CNN reported. The deaths came one week after a similar friendly fire episode killed eight civilians in the same province.

Four civilians died and four were wounded in a second weekend incident when NATO-led troops fired mortar rounds in southeastern Afghanistan's Paktika province, CNN said.