US-led soldiers killed three civilians overnight when they opened fire on a vehicle carrying six family members which attempted to run a checkpoint in southern Afghanistan, the US-led military Sunday.
"Coalition forces fired on a pick-up truck that attempted to run through a joint Afghan National Army-Coalition checkpoint near Ghazni, killing three and wounding two," the US-led coalition said in an emailed statement.
After the incident, which occurred at 9:00 pm (1630 GMT) Saturday, soldiers searched the truck but did not find any weapons, the statement said.
US military spokesman Captain Mike Eckert told AFP by telephone that investigations were still ongoing into whether all the people in the car were civilians.
The dead included one male and two females, the statement said. "Coalition forces evacuated a critically injured man and a critically injured woman and her uninjured infant by helicopter to Bagram (air base) for medical treatment," the statement said.
Interior ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal confirmed the incident saying: "A six-member family were driving a station-wagon vehicle in Giro district of Ghazni province. The coalition and ANA checkpost waved at them to stop and while they didn't stop they were fired at," he told AFP.
US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad Sunday sent his condolences "to the families of the victims of the tragic incident in Ghazni province," he said in an emailed statement.