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UN Panel Urges Security Contractor Reforms


NATO soldier in Afghanistan
NATO soldier in Afghanistan

A United Nations panel has called for more regulation of private security contractors in Afghanistan.

The U.N. working group on mercenaries says self-regulation of the industry has not been effective, and urged the United States to have greater oversight of contractors.

The panel's chairman, Alexander Nikitin, said regulation efforts in the past 10 years have not led to effective regulations.

The group also said the current system has allowed companies to employ people who may have been involved in human rights abuses.

In violence Tuesday in Afghanistan, NATO said three coalition service members were killed in separate attacks in the southern part of the country.

NATO did not give the nationalities of the service members, saying only that one was killed in an insurgent attack and the others by roadside bombs.

And Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered a probe into the death of a detainee who was being held by coalition forces in the Arghandab district of southern Kandahar province.

NATO said the detainee was found dead in his holding cell at a detention center on Sunday, after being arrested during an operation the night before.

Afghan officials say coalition troops entered the prison and killed the detainee named Mullah Muhibullah.

Officials say both NATO and the Afghan authorities are probing the incident.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.

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