The military has ordered an investigation into a shooting incident involving Canadian troops that left an Afghan army soldier wounded.
The shooting, which occurred on a road east of Kandahar city, involved soldiers in a Canadian re-supply convoy that was returning to the local airfield, NATO's main military base in the region.
"There's certainly some confusion around what happened, but for about 30 minutes or so the situation was very tense with Afghan and Canadian soldiers facing each other, their weapons ready," CTV's Paul Workman reported from Kandahar on Monday.
Canadian Forces spokesman Lt.-Cmdr. Kris Phillips told The Canadian Press that military police have called for a probe.
"Incidents such as this are very regrettable and we try to take all reasonable steps to avoid them. However, they do, from time to time, occur,'' he said.
"We've also been in constant contact with the ANA (Afghan National Army) authorities and commanders in the local area. There will be further meetings and discussions with representatives of the ANA to determine how we can work together to prevent this from happening again.''
Phillips said the shooting happened when an Afghan army convoy of pickup trucks approached a security cordon set up around a disabled RG-31 Nyala patrol vehicle.
The driver of the lead pickup refused orders to stop, he said.
Afghan officials, however, say their convoy was approaching when the first vehicle was signalled to drive through, Workman reported.
"When it started moving, a second Canadian vehicle with soldiers inside opened fire and one of the Afghan soldiers was wounded in the hand," Workman said.
"Canadians tell us they don't know exactly what happened but for whatever reason, they say, shooting started. ... It took about 30 minutes or so ... for cooler heads to prevail," he added.
The wounded Afghan soldier was transported to a civilian hospital for treatment to what is believed to be injuries to his arm. His injuries are described as non-life-threatening.
"I think naturally people would be a little bit upset with this sort of incident. I know we're upset. It's not the kind of thing we like to see happen,'' Phillips said.
In other developments on Monday, gunbattles and ambushes left at least six Taliban fighters and five Afghan police dead in southern Afghanistan.
U.S.-led coalition forces reported that several other Taliban fighters died during an assault targeting a senior Taliban leader near the town of Gereshk in Helmand province.
The coalition said Taliban militants set off the fight by firing a rocket-propelled grenade at coalition and Afghan forces.
"Forces then engaged and killed the Taliban fighters,'' a coalition statement said.
Officials hadn't yet determined the number of militants killed, the statement said.
The offensive was launched based on information about a senior Taliban leader operating in Kandahar who has links to Taliban leader Mullah Omar, the coalition said.
Meanwhile in Uruzgan province, NATO forces and Afghan police and troops clashed with suspected Taliban militants near the town of Tirin Kot late Sunday.
The clashes left six Taliban fighters and three police dead, while another 12 suspected Taliban were arrested and several guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers were recovered, said Qayum Qayumi, the provincial governor's spokesman.
Also Sunday, two police officers died and a third was wounded in neighbouring Zabul province when suspected Taliban militants ambushed a police vehicle.
With files from The Canadian Press
