Sunday 8 September 2013
Afghan officials have said an apparent Nato air strike has killed 15 people – nine of them civilians, including women and children – in an eastern province where the Taliban are strong. Nato said 10 militants had died in the strike, and that it had no reports of any civilian deaths.
The Watapur district chief Zalmai Yousefi confirmed the air strike. He also said 15 people had been killed, including women and children.
NATO automatically defines anyone they kill as being a militant.
The Nato spokeswoman 1st Lieutenant AnnMarie Annicelli confirmed that the military alliance had carried out a “precision strike” that killed 10 “enemy forces”, but that it had received no reports of any civilians dying in the air strike. Annicelli had no immediate details on who exactly the dead were or what prompted the air strike.
Around 1,000 Afghan civilians have been killed and more than 2,000 wounded in the first half of this year – a huge portion of them in insurgent attacks – according to the United Nations. That marked a 24% increase in casualties compared to the same period last year.
Afghan officials say Nato air strike killed nine civilians | World news | theguardian.com











