Afghan officials: Airstrike kills 11 civilians

The Associated Press, Kabul, Afghanistan | World | Sun, April 07 2013, 9: 15 PM

Afghan officials said that a NATO airstrike killed 11 Afghan civilians, including 10 children, during a violent weekend gunbattle with Taliban militants who also one u.s. civilian adviser to death in Eastern Afghanistan left, Sunday.

The US-led coalition confirmed that air strikes were called by international troops during the Afghan-led operation in a remote area near the borders with Pakistan province of Kunar. The coalition said it was aware of reports that civilians were killed, but had no direct information on their death.

The death of Afghan civilians caught in the crossfire of battle is a major point of contention between international forces and the Afghan Government, President Hamid Karzai earlier this year to ban request airstrikes to his troops.

Wasifullah, an official in the province of Kunar, Wasify said the airstrike on Saturday was directed at a House and killed 10 children and a woman inside. He also said seven Taliban suspects were killed and five other women were wounded in the House.

The airstrike occurred after a joint U.S.-Afghan force faced hours of heavy gunfire by militants after launching an operation targeting a senior Taliban leader late Friday in the Shigal district of Kunar area of Shultan, according to tribal elder Gul Pasha, who is also the head of the local Council of Shultan.

"In the morning after sunrise, aircraft appeared in the sky and airstrikes began and continued until the evening," he said in a telephone interview.

He said the main suspect was in the House that was hit and the wife and children, ages 1 to 12, those killed were members of his family.

"I don't think they knew these children and women in the House were because they were attacked by the House and they were shooting in the House," he said.

The US-led coalition said it provided fire support from the air, killing several insurgents.

"The air support was called by coalition troops, not Afghan security forces, and was used to insurgent troops in areas away from structures, according to our reporting," coalition spokesman Major General Adam Wojack said in a statement.

He said the International Security Assistance Force all reports of civilian casualties seriously, and is currently reviewing the incident.