(KCEN) -- An American soldier, a civilian contractor and three Afghan soldiers were killed in a checkpoint in Eastern Afghanistan yesterday.
The incident began when the Americans thought they were under fire by a mortar attack by insurgents.
The Americans apparently fired which prompted Afghani soldiers to return fire, an apparent "misunderstanding" according to the Afghan Defense Ministry.
NATO says the killings would not weaken relations between International and Afghani Forces.
ISAF Deputy Commander Lt. Gen. Adrian J Bradsh says, "But if you visit people in the field, who are working together closely with thousands of interactions every day, you see strong, trusting relationships, resulting in cooperative operations delivering success every day in the field."
The shooting is said to mark the 2,000th death of an American soldier inside Afghanistan.
