KABUL (AFP) — NATO soldiers shot dead an Afghan man who came close to a military patrol in southern Afghanistan fearing he was going to launch an attack, the alliance's force said Wednesday.
It was the latest in a series in which soldiers with NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) have killed civilians who have come too close to troops wary of suicide attacks by rebels.
A vehicle approached an ISAF patrol on Tuesday in the southern province of Helmand, which sees near daily attacks by the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban.
The driver was warned through hand, arm and audio signals, and flashing lights, to stop but did not, an ISAF statement said.
"When the vehicle was 10 metres (30 feet) away and still approaching rapidly, the ISAF soldiers, fearing an attack, fired on it," it said. The man died later of his wounds.
Also in Helmand, on Wednesday, ISAF troops fired a single shot at another car which "overtook the queue of traffic and tried to drive through the checkpoint" manned by ISAF, it said in a separate statement.
Troops "were forced to fire a single warning shot after the car continued on its course. Unfortunately the bullet ricocheted, injured the driver and then injured two other civilians who were passing by," it said.
The force said it regretted the incidents and would investigate.
The nearly 70,000 international soldiers in Afghanistan are among the main targets of Taliban suicide attacks, carried out by explosive-laden people who launch themselves at soldiers or drive car bombs at them.
The suicide bombings however usually kill more civilians.
ISAF soldiers killed six people, including two children, in similar shootings in southern Afghanistan last month.
Dozens were also killed in military action against rebels and in militant attacks.
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