Kabul - NATO forces fatally shot a civilian in southern Afghanistan after the truck he was travelling in failed to stop as it approached a military convoy, the alliance said Friday.

The incident happened Thursday night near Kandahar city, the capital of the province of the same name, when a truck approached a NATO convoy head-on, a NATO statement said.

"The vehicle failed to respond to warning signals of flashing lights and a vehicle horn and failed to stop," the statement said, "One warning shot was fired. The vehicle still failed to stop. A further two shots were fired directly at the vehicle, killing one civilian."

The statement said the incident was under investigation.

Civilian casualties at the hands of foreign troops have become a sensitive issue and have strained relations between the Afghan government and the foreign forces.

The incident came a day after NATO-led Australian soldiers killed a district governor in the southern province of Uruzgan and two of his bodyguards after the soldiers mistook them for Taliban militants.

Nearly 1,500 civilians are among more then 4,000 people who have been killed in the Afghan conflict so far this year. (dpa)