Afghanistan: NATO airstrike kills ten children in Kunar

They were aware of reports of civilian casualties and were assessing the incident: ISAF

SHIGAL, AFGHANISTAN:

A Nato airstrike on Saturday killed ten children and a woman during an operation targeting Taliban commanders in eastern Afghanistan, according to an Associated Press report.

Seven insurgents were also killed, two of them senior Taliban leaders, and five other women wounded during the joint Afghan-Nato operation in the Shigal district of restive Kunar province bordering Pakistan, said Wasifullah Wasify, a government official in the province.

A spokesman for the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf), Captain Luca Carniel, said they were aware of reports of civilian casualties and were assessing the incident. Carniel said Isaf had provided “air support” during the operation but he said there had been no Isaf troops on the ground. The air strike had been requested by coalition forces, not their Afghan allies, he said.

Wasefi also said an American civilian adviser to the Afghan intelligence agency had also been killed in the operation.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 8^th, 2013.