Afghan member of parliament killed

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A member of the Afghan parliament was mistakenly killed in an early morning shootout between his bodyguards and police officers, officials said Wednesday.

Mohammad Yunos Shirnagha, a lawmaker from northern Baghlan province, was killed as he was returning home around 2.30 am Wednesday, said provincial police chief General Kabir Andarabi.

Officers were hiding in an area near the provincial capital, Pul-e-Khumri, where they expected militants to transport a Taliban commander wounded in fighting Tuesday, local police said. That battle left four police officers and four insurgents dead, according to police.

When Shirnagha's vehicle arrived in the area, police shouted for it to stop. When the driver did not stop, a gunfight broke out between police officers and bodyguards protecting Shirnagha, a member of Afghanistan's upper house of parliament.

The lawmaker's driver also was killed and one of his friends was wounded, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry has sent its chief of counterterrorism, Abdul Manan Farahi, to the area to investigate.

The Defence Ministry, meanwhile, reported that four militants were killed in two separate operations Tuesday. In the Qarabagh district of Ghazni province, three insurgents were killed by a joint Afghan-international force, the ministry said. An Afghan army and police patrol killed a militant suspected of making bombs in Zabul province, the ministry said in a statement.

In Kandahar province, two civilians were killed and three wounded when a roadside mine explosion hit their vehicle on Tuesday, the Interior Ministry said.

- AP