* Afghan cleaner who worked for NATO shot at work
* Family blames NATO service; investigations underway
* Head of NATO force apologises over other killings (Adds Uruzgan blast)
By Mirwais Harooni
KABUL, Aug 16 (Reuters) - An Afghan cleaner was killed inside the headquarters of NATO-led forces in Kabul, his family and Western officials said on Tuesday, and investigators were checking whether he was shot by a foreign soldier.
The 21-year-old man's brother said he believed he had been shot on Sunday, possibly accidentally, by a member of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. ISAF confirmed the shooting but said it could say who had opened fire or why.
Civilian casualties caused by foreign troops have long been a point of contention between President Hamid Karzai and his Western backers. The latest incident is likely to stoke tensions in Afghanistan, where civilian deaths are at a record high.
"He passed away from the wounds caused by the weapon discharge," said ISAF spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jimmie Cummings. He added that an investigation was under way.
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 Ahmad Kakar told Reuters. Kabul city police said they had also launched an investigation into the shooting.
Ahmad Kakar said he was sure an ISAF service member had shot his brother because they were normally the only people who carry guns inside the 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, head of criminal investigations at Kabul police, told Reuters.
APOLOGY
A surge in 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.
Also on Tuesday, the commander of foreign troops, U.S. General John Allen, apologised to the family of three Afghan civilians killed by French troops in eastern Kapisa province on July 26.
A statement from ISAF said Allen met family members at ISAF headquarters in Kabul. The three civilians, including a woman and a child, were killed and four wounded when the troops fired on a car which did not stop when it approached them.
"General Allen ... reiterated that any civilian casualties are a tragedy and assured the family he would continue to make every effort to reduce civilian casualties in the fight against the insurgency," the statement said.
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 2001.
Late on Tuesday, a bomb planted in a motorcycle in a vegetable market in the southern province of Uruzgan killed at least five people and wounded 18, government officials said.
Alhaj Khudai Rahim, a deputy governor in Uruzgan, said the death toll was likely to rise. (Writing and additional reporting by Amie Ferris-Rotman; Editing by Paul Tait and Alastair Macdonald)
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