A NATO air attack in eastern Afghanistan has killed at least 10 children, officials said on Sunday. The children were killed during a joint Afghan-NATO operation in the Shigal district of restive Kunar province bordering Pakistan on late 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.