Karzai relative killed by NATO troops

KABUL, Afghanistan, March 10 (UPI) -- NATO troops operating in southern Afghanistan mistakenly killed a relative of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, officials said.

Yar Muhammad Khan was shot to death in an overnight raid while in his home in the Dand district near Kandahar city, the BBC reported Thursday.

NATO said it was investigating the incident.

"There were operations taking place near his house," said Ahmad Wali Karzai, President Karzai's brother and head of Kandahar's provincial council. "He was killed by mistake. He was not a target."

The victim has been described by various sources as a cousin of President Karzai and a cousin of Karzai's father, the BBC reported.

A spokesman for Karzai said the president knew the man and that they came from the same village.

"He was extremely sad, just as he's sad over any incident that takes the life of any innocent Afghan civilian," Waheed Omer said.

A record number of civilians, more than 2,700, were killed in Afghanistan in 2010, a United Nations report on civilian deaths said.

Hundreds of Afghans protested last week in the streets of the capital, Kabul, against civilian deaths at the hands of foreign forces, the BBC reported.