KABUL: A member of the Afghan Parliament was mistakenly killed in an early morning shootout between his bodyguards and police officers, officials said Wednesday.
Mohammad Yunos Shirnagha, a lawmaker from northern Baghlan province, was killed as he returned home around 2:30 a.m.
Wednesday, 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 Taleban commander wounded in fighting Tuesday, local police said. That 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.
President Hamid Karzai ordered the Interior Ministry to conduct an “urgent” investigation, according to a statement from Karzai’s office. The ministry has sent its chief of counterterrorism, Abdul Manan Farahi, to the area to investigate.
Karzai spent the day visiting wounded Afghan soldiers and policemen and touring an academy for new police recruits.
US Commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal and Afghan government officials joined Karzai at the training academy.
