Police chief says 12 dead in strike confirmed by US military as having killed 'friendly Afghan forces in a compound'.

AVA- An errant US air strike has killed Afghan police in the southern province of Helmand, the US military and local officials said.

The air strike on a compound took place on Friday afternoon after Afghan police had retaken a checkpoint captured by the Taliban a day earlier in Gereshk district, north of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah.

Abdul Ghafar Safi, the provincial police chief, told Al Jazeera that at least 12 police were killed - two of whom were commanders - and more were wounded.

A statement from the US military confirmed the killings, saying, "aerial fires resulted in the deaths of the friendly Afghan forces who were gathered in a compound".

There were conflicting reports over the number of officers killed.

The US military did not provide the number of casualties.

Omar Zwak, a spokesman for the governor of Helmand, told Al Jazeera that at least three people were killed and that an investigation has been launched.