*ISAF says partnered with Afghan forces on deadly Kabul raid
*Afghan government says foreign forces ignored raid rules
*Two guards killed, two wounded, 13 detained
By Hamid Shalizi
KABUL, Dec 27 (Reuters) - The NATO-led force in Afghanistan disputed on Monday an accusation by the Afghan government that foreign forces had violated a security deal by conducting a night raid in Kabul that killed two guards last week.
Under the 2008 deal, Afghan authorities have to approve and lead all security operations in the Afghan capital. The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) said the rules had been ignored by foreign forces and that two senior Afghan policemen have been suspended over Friday's raid.
But Brigadier General Josef Blotz, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said ISAF troops had coordinated with Afghan security forces.
"ISAF coordinated with Afghan security forces to move on an area of interest, so we followed the usual procedures and the operation was partnered," Blotz said.
"The cooperation with MOD (Ministry of Defence) and MOI is actually magnificent, the cooperation has improved over time," he told a news conference on Monday.
ISAF said on Friday the raid in downtown Kabul followed a "credible threat" to attack the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. The coalition said it had coordinated with Afghan security forces.
Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security also said earlier last week it had separately detained three people who it said had been instructed by the Pakistani Taliban to attack the presidential palace and U.S. embassy in Kabul.
But Afghan authorities said the ISAF operation in Kabul had incorrectly targeted the compound of a private Afghan security firm, National Tiger, which was responsible for providing security and transportation for at least three Afghan businesses.
"The raid was a violation and was not based on correct information," Mohammad Zaher, head of criminal investigations for the Afghan police in Kabul, told Reuters on Monday. "This was a one-sided operation without the coordination of Kabul's police."
"The method of the operation was wrong," he said. "When we arrived at the scene people were asking for help, but the foreigners were firing in all directions."
He said two police generals who had known about the raid, but were not involved in the operation, had been suspended for not telling higher authorities.
"We are demanding the punishment of those who were involved in this. They have proved nothing," Zaher said, referring to ISAF's intelligence reports that suggested two vehicles packed with explosives were parked at the compound targeted by the raid.
Two Afghan security guards were killed, two wounded and 13 more apprehended during the raid, ISAF said. But all those detained were released after a senior Afghan National Security Forces commander personally vouched for them.
The coalition said in a statement that a large number of weapons were found during the operation but gave no details on whether any explosives were found. It said the target area was near an office building in Kabul, but gave no further details.
The use of "night raids" on private homes by foreign troops seeking insurgents has long angered Afghan officials.
Rules governing their use were tightened in 2009 and again this year but it is far less common for raids to be carried out by foreign troops on private security companies.
Under the new rules, raids must be cleared by Afghan authorities first and must involve Afghan troops.
Violence is at its worst across Afghanistan since U.S.-backed Afghan troops ousted the Taliban in 2001, with record deaths on all sides of the near-decade long conflict.
(Additional reporting by Sayed Salahuddin; Writing by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Paul Tait and Miral Fahmy)
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