* Afghan cleaner who worked for NATO shot at work
* Family blames NATO service, investigations underway
* NATO coalition says too early to say who is responsible
By Mirwais Harooni
KABUL, Aug 16 (Reuters) - An Afghan cleaner who worked for NATO-led forces in Afghanistan was shot and killed inside the coalition's headquarters, his family and the coalition said on Tuesday, with investigations underway to determine if he was shot by a NATO service member.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed the shooting had taken place but could not say who carried it out.
While shootings of Afghan civilians working for ISAF are extremely rare, civilian casualties caused by foreign troops hunting insurgents have long been a point of contention between President Hamid Karzai and his Western backers.
The latest shooting is likely to stoke tensions in Afghanistan, where civilian deaths are at a record high in the costly and increasingly unpopular war.
"Unfortunately, he passed away from the wounds caused by the weapon discharge," said ISAF spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jimmie Cummings.
Cummings said an investigation was underway, and that ISAF was unable at present to say if an ISAF service member had fired the weapon, or why the incident had taken place.
Hasibullah Kakar, 21, had been working as a cleaner at the ISAF headquarters in Kabul for more than two years when he was fatally shot on Sunday, his 30-year-old brother Ahmad said.
"He was shot by someone, but I don't know if it was accidental or if they did it on purpose," an emotional Kakar told Reuters. Kabul city Police said they had also launched an investigation into the shooting.
Kakar said he was sure an ISAF service member had shot his brother because they were the only people carrying guns inside the coalition's headquarters. He said he was told by ISAF personnel that his brother had been "accidentally shot".
The weapon was fired on Sunday, ISAF said.
Kakar said he was told that evening by a doctor that his brother had not survived an operation to try to save him.
"It is not clear what the exact reason for his death was. Until it is fully clear, we cannot say anything," Abdul Zahir, the head of criminal investigations at Kabul police, told Reuters.
A worrying surge of military deaths is being matched by record casualties among civilians, who continue to bear the brunt of a war that has dragged on for 10 years and appears to be bogged down despite claims of success from both sides.
Efforts by NATO and the Afghan government to win over ordinary Afghans in the face of a resurgent Taliban have been strained by record levels of civilian deaths.
U.N. figures last month showed civilian deaths hit a record 1,462 in the first six months of 2011, a rise of 15 percent over the same period in 2010. The United Nations report blamed 80 percent of those deaths on insurgents.
This represents the deadliest period for civilians since the Taliban were toppled by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in late 2001. (Writing and additional reporting by Amie Ferris-Rotman; Editing by Paul Tait and Yoko Nishikawa)
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