Nato airstrike 'killed four Afghan soldiers'

A Nato airstrike killed four Afghan soldiers in the country’s south, mistaking them for militants, an Afghan military official said.

A spokesman for the Defence Ministry said the Afghan soldiers had left their base in Helmand province on Wednesday night for a patrol when they came under fire from Nato planes.

General Mohammad Zahir Azimi said Nato told the Afghan government that the coalition thought the men were militants.

A spokesman for Nato forces, Captain Ciro Parisi of the Italian army, said they have sent a team to investigate the incident.