Kabul: A member of the Afghan parliament was
mistakenly killed in an early morning shootout between his
bodyguards and police officers, officials said on Wednesday.
Mohammad Yunos Shirnagha, a lawmaker from northern
Baghlan province, was killed as he was returning home around
0230 am today, said provincial police chief Gen Kabir
Andarabi.
Officers were hiding in an area near the provincial
capital, Pul-e-Khumri, where they expected militants to
transport a Taliban commander wounded in fighting yesterday,
local police said.
The battle left four police officers and four insurgents
dead, according to police.
When Shirnagha's vehicle arrived in the area, police
shouted for it to stop. When the driver did not stop, a
gunfight broke out between police officers and bodyguards
protecting Shirnagha, a member of Afghanistan's upper house of
parliament.
The lawmaker's driver also was killed and one of his
friends was wounded, the Interior Ministry said in a
statement.
The ministry has sent its chief of counterterrorism,
Abdul Manan Farahi, to the area to investigate.
The Defence Ministry, meanwhile, reported that four
militants were killed in two separate operations yesterday.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, December 23, 2009, 16:10