Over two dozen Afghan and NATO troopers were killed and injured as NATO-led aircraft mistakenly pounded the position of forces in Badghis province northwest of Afghanistan, Deputy to provincial Police chief Abdul Jabbar said Saturday.

"A contingent of Afghan and international troops came under Taliban attack in Balamirghab district on Thursday and the troops called in air support. But the aircraft mistakenly pounded the troops' position leaving over a dozen soldiers dead and injured," Jabbar told Xinhua.

Those killed in the so-called friendly fire, he added, include three militants, three police and two Afghan soldiers.

Twelve more Afghan soldiers and one Afghan police constable sustained injuries in the air strike, he said.

He also added that six American soldiers were either killed or injured in the incident.

Qari Yusuf Ahmadi who claims to speak for the Taliban outfit in talks with media via telephone from undisclosed locations confirmed the death of three insurgents, saying the air raids as well as the Taliban fire inflicted huge casualties on both Afghan and the NATO-led forces, a claim rejected by police officer Jabbar.

Meantime, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) also confirmed the incident in a press release, saying that 25 ISAF and Afghan troops got wounded in the operation conducted Friday during search operation for two missing American soldiers. However, it did not give more details.

Two U.S. soldiers are said to have been swept away by a river in Balamirghab district of Badghis province on Wednesday. However, Yusuf Ahmadi rejected the reports that the bodies of two U.S. soldiers are with the Taliban fighters, stressing any claim attributed to him is groundless.

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