NATO strike kills 10 children in Afghanistan
A NATO air attack in eastern Afghanistan has killed at least 10
children, officials said Sunday.
The children were killed during a joint Afghan-NATO operation in the
Shigal district of restive Kunar province bordering Pakistan late on
Saturday.
"Ten children and eight militants were killed in the strike, six
women were wounded," Wasifullah Wasifi, the spokesman for Kunar
province, told AFP.
Shigal district governor Abdul Zahir confirmed the death toll and
said people had brought the children's bodies to the centre of the town.
The wounded women were taken to Kunar's central hospital, he said.
An Afghan official involved in the operation who declined to be named
said the air support was called in after local and coalition forces came
under attack, resulting in the death of an American and injuries to
several Afghans.
The official said the force did not know there were women and
children in the houses that were hit.
Civilian casualties caused by NATO forces have been one of the most
contentious issues in the campaign against Taliban insurgents, provoking
harsh criticism from President Hamid Karzai and angry public protests.
Sayed Rahman, security commander of Shigal, said one women was also
among the dead.
"We have reports that 10 children and one woman have been killed in
the air strike," he said.
A spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)
confirmed the strike, but said up to 10 women and children were wounded
in the attack rather than killed.
A US civilian died in a militant attack at the spot, he said.
The interior ministry said in a statement the attack by coalition
forces killed six Taliban including two senior commanders.
A NATO air strike on Thursday killed four Afghan police and two
civilians in Ghazni province.
That attack happened after Taliban insurgents raided a local police
post before dawn and NATO planes were called in to support the officers.
AFP
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