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British Troops Under Fire in Kabul
Thursday, February 21, 2002
(3:39 AM ET) (08:39 GMT)
The Cable News Network

Afghan witnesses say the fatal shooting was unprovoked.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- CNN
British troops have come under fire in Afghanistan for the second time in less than a week.

A patrol of British paratroopers was shot at in the Afghan capital and returned fire, a spokesman for the British-led multinational force in Kabul said on Thursday. There were no casualties.

Jonathan Turner, spokesman for the 17-nation International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said a patrol from the 2nd battalion, the parachute regiment, came under fire in western Kabul around 8.30 pm (1600 GMT) on Wednesday as they were getting out of their vehicles.

"They returned fire with the aid of the Afghan police. There were no casualties," he said, adding the firefight was brief.

"Now we have a team sweeping the area looking for evidence from the firing point," Turner said, adding that nobody had been arrested in connection with the incident.

On Saturday, British forces said an observation post in western Kabul had come under fire from an unidentified source and paratroopers returned fire, killing a young man and wounding four others, including a pregnant woman.

But Afghan police later said no shots were fired at the post and British troops had opened fire on an innocent family taking a pregnant woman to hospital.
(More: CNN.com News Source)
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Dan