A gun battle today in Kandahar, Afghanistan, left the local police chief dead. But that's about the only part of the story not in dispute at this time.

According to the Associated Press:

 

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said local militia working for U.S.-led coalition forces were responsible and that coalition forces are protecting those local guards. Mohammad Khan, an employee at the Kandahar attorney general's office, has told AP that he saw Afghan and U.S. forces at the scene.

But Chief Petty Officer Brian Naranjo, a spokesman for the U.S. military, said no U.S. forces were involved in any way. The AP also writes that:

A U.S. military spokeswoman, Lt. Cmdr. Christine Sidenstricker, said that Afghan forces were trying to free people in custody in the government complex when the shooting happened. She said she couldn't immediately say whether U.S. forces were present during the shooting, but she said that Afghan forces killed the Afghan officials.

The incident happened at a government complex. The AP says that "Ahmad Wali Karzai, the brother of the president and a top official in Kandahar, said provincial Police Chief Matiullah Qati
was among 10 policemen killed. The provincial head of the criminal investigations department also died, he said."

Karzai's office put the death toll at five.

Reuters says it has been told by witnesses that police and soldiers have exchanged gunfire in other parts of Kandahar today as well.