* ISAF says partnered with Afghan forces in deadly raid
* Afghan government says foreign forces ignored raid rules
* Two guards killed, two wounded, 13 detained
(Adds comment from owner of raided company, paragraphs 14-15)
By Hamid Shalizi
KABUL, Dec 27 (Reuters) - The NATO-led force in Afghanistan disputed on Monday an Afghan government accusation that foreign troops had violated a security deal by conducting a night raid in Kabul in which two guards were killed.
Under the 2008 deal, Afghan authorities have to approve and lead all security operations in the capital. But the Ministry of Interior (MOI) has said that foreign forces ignored the security rules and it was unaware of Friday's operation.
Raids by foreign forces, deeply unpopular among ordinary Afghans, are a source of friction between the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government.
The incident is the latest to strain ties, with civilian casualties and accusations that Karzai's government is corrupt adding to tension at a time when the West is assessing its long-term involvement in Afghanistan.
Karzai and his National Security Council met the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, on Sunday and discussed the raid, Karzai's spokesman, Waheed Omer, said.
"This was an irresponsible way of dealing with an issue within Kabul city and that was clearly conveyed," Omer told a news conference, adding that the security council also said the operation had been "unnecessary".
Brigadier General Josef Blotz, a spokesman for ISAF, said ISAF troops had coordinated the raid 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 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.
"FIRING IN ALL DIRECTIONS"
Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security also said 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 officials said the ISAF operation in Kabul had incorrectly targeted the compound.
Authorities initially believed the compound was used by an Afghan security firm but it was later found to belong to an armoured car firm with headquarters in the United Arab Emirates.
On Monday, bullet holes could still be seen in some of the windows in the Tiger International compound in north Kabul.
"At the end of their brutal attack on my company, the troops stood up and apologised. We will never accept their apology," Tiger International president Shah Agha Sakhizada told Reuters.
Sakhizada said he did not want any compensation and he wanted the incident to handled by the Afghan courts. One employee, who identified himself as Obaid, said he thought the company was under attack from the Taliban.
Mohammad Zaher, head of criminal investigations for the Afghan police in Kabul, told Reuters the raid "was not based on correct information".
"This was a one-sided operation without the coordination of Kabul's police," he said. "The method of the operation was wrong. 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 people wounded and 13 more apprehended during the raid, ISAF said. All those detained were later released after a senior Afghan National Security Forces commander personally vouched for them.
ISAF said in a statement that a large number of weapons were found during the operation.
Rules governing raids by foreign forces were tightened in 2009 and this year. 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)
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