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Afghan troops fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a Nato convoy in an apparent "road rage" incident on Kabul's busiest highway, it was revealed today.
Uniformed troops from Afghanistan's secret police attacked at an impromptu Nato checkpoint, close to Camp Souter - the main British base in the capital.
The blast came hours before a major strategic review was submitted by Nato's commander, Stanley McChrystal, and a new directive on "considerate driving" to win trust and support.
Witnesses said four British armoured vehicles were parked on both sides of the main east-west highway into Kabul when a convoy of soldiers from the Soviet-trained secret police arrived from out of town.
"There were four British trucks completely blocking the road," said Mohammed Rafi, who runs a puncture repair shop close to where the rocket landed.
"They had been there for 20 minutes. The Afghan forces fired an RPG into the air, then they all got out and surrounded the foreigners. Then the foreigners left."
A spokesman for the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force was unable to confirm if it was British, American or other troops involved.
Nato officials claimed the rocket was fired by mistake yesterday afternoon. There were no reports of casualties.
General McChrystal issued a countrywide directive on driving.
He said: "ISAF forces are highly conspicuous when travelling in vehicles and I expect ISAF members to drive in ways that respect the safety and well-being of the Afghan people."
Nato convoys routinely speed through the capital, forcing civilian cars off the road, in a bid to mitigate the threat from suicide bombers.
An American soldier was killed and two British soldiers were seriously injured by a suicide bomber on the same stretch of road two weeks ago.
General McChrystal also submitted his strategic assessment yesterday.
"The situation in Afghanistan is serious, but success is achievable and demands a revised implementation strategy," he said.
Gordon Brown promised to send an extra 200 bomb disposal experts to Afghanistan as he made a surprise visit to the country over the weekend.
Security across Afghanistan remains tense as results from the 20 August presidential election trickle out.
Results so far show President Hamid Karzai leads with 45.9 per cent, while Abdullah Abdullah has 33.3 per cent.
• Two soldiers killed in an explosion in Afghanistan will be named by the Ministry of Defence today.
The pair from The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland, were killed while on foot patrol north of Lashkar Gah District, southern Helmand, yesterday morning.
The deaths take the total number of UK service personnel killed since operations began in 2001 to 210.
Scotland First Minister, Alex Salmond, said: "All our thoughts are with the families, friends and colleagues of The Black Watch."
Reader views (1)
jerome,thanx 4 keeping all of us infotmed!awesome job as usual.b safe.
- Kimberly, cushing,usa, 01/09/2009 20:15
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