A NATO helicopter opened fire on a car in northern Afghanistan Thursday, killing a police officer and a local politician's brother, the governor of Faryab province told AFP.
Abdul Haq Shafaq said he was driving on the same road in his official convoy when the car came under attack from a NATO helicopter, around five kilometres (three miles) outside the provincial capital, Maymana.
"We were on the same road. Five cars were coming from the opposite direction. All of a sudden we saw a NATO helicopter firing at one of those cars. A police officer and the brother of a politician were killed," Shafaq said.
A spokeswoman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in response: "We've heard the claim and we're looking into it at the moment".
Three other people — two other police officers and a civilian — were injured in the attack, Shafaq said.
He condemned what he said "was a brutal act with no reason" and said he had launched an investigation into the incident, which he said happened around 11:00am (0630 GMT).
There have been a series of mistaken attacks by NATO-led forces in recent weeks, including the deaths of five civilians in a firefight involving coalition troops Tuesday and those of four Afghan soldiers in an accidental airstrike last week.
Both incidents were in southern Afghanistan, the heart of the nine-year Taliban insurgency which international troops are battling across the troubled country.
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