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Nato-led troops call in airstrikes in Afghanistan
Nato-led Afghan troops called in airstrikes against militants in western Afghanistan on Thursday, killing at least 10 insurgents and wounding four civilians, Afghan officials said.
- Agencies
- Published: 10:51 July 17, 2008
Kabul: Nato-led Afghan troops called in airstrikes against militants in western Afghanistan on Thursday, killing at least 10 insurgents and wounding four civilians, Afghan officials said.
The four wounded civilians, two children, a man and a woman, were brought to Herat hospital for treatment, Humayun Azizi, the head of Herat's provincial council said.
The acknowledgement came as reports of theUS-led coalition troops killing eight Afghan civilians in an air strike in the western province of Farah were received.
The air strike on Tuesday was summoned after a coalition convoy came under sustained attack from machine gun and indirect fire from a number of houses adjacent to a road in the Bakwa district of Farah, the US military said.
"The coalition convoy returned fire and called for close air support on the enemy positions. A house was hit; eight civilians were killed, two others injured," it said in a statement late on Wednesday.
"Coalition forces never intentionally target non-combatants, and deeply regret any occurrence such as this where civilians are killed and injured as a result of insurgent activity and actions," it said.
Afghan officials said nine people, all members of the same family were killed in Tuesday's bombing.
The issue of civilian casualties is highly sensitive one for the Western-backed government and undermines Afghan support for the presence of foreign forces who are fighting the Taliban-led insurgents in Afghanistan.
There has been a sharp rise in violence in Afghanistan this year, the bloodiest since US-led and Afghan forces overthrew the hardline Taliban in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
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