"Burgerslachtoffers bij aanval KLu in Afghanistan"

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NATO: Airstrike killed Afghan women, children

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Civilians, including women and children, were killed in an airstrike by coalition troops in southern Afghanistan, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said Thursday.

The airstrike occurred Wednesday when NATO-led forces were targeting militants at a compound in Helmand province, according to an ISAF statement.

Local villagers said 11 civilians were killed and no Taliban militants were killed.

"ISAF received reports of a number of persons killed in the compound, including women and children," the statement said.

"Also, a number of civilians with injuries reported to ISAF troops and were given immediate medical attention or were transported to an ISAF hospital for treatment."

The statement did not say how many civilians were killed or injured, but said NATO-led forces had scheduled a meeting with village elders about the incident.

Civilian deaths have risen in recent months as the war intensifies and the country deals with the recent disputed presidential election.

About 1,500 civilians died in Afghanistan from the beginning of the year to August, according to a U.N. report released this week.

The United Nations said civilian deaths jumped more than 20 percent this year compared with last year.

Most of the deaths were blamed on insurgent roadside bombs and suicide attacks. But a significant number of civilians were killed by airstrikes conducted by U.S. and NATO forces, the report said.

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NATO air strike 'kills nine civilians'


KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Nine civilians including six children were killed in a NATO air strike targeting a Taliban position in restive southern Afghanistan, the provincial governor's office said on Thursday.

The strike took place after a joint Afghan and NATO forces convoy came under direct fire in a village of Nad Ali district of Helmand province, Daud Ahmadi, spokesman for the provincial governor, told AFP.

"Six children and three women were killed and another three civilian men were wounded," he said.

The wounded were taken to a NATO hospital for treatment, the spokesman said.

"Four armed Taliban were also killed in the air attack," he added.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said the air strike followed "extensive engagement" with insurgents fighting from a compound in the troubled south.

The alliance confirmed reports of civilian casualties but gave no specific death toll.

"ISAF received reports of a number of persons killed in the compound, including women and children," it said in a statement.

ISAF and village elders are investigating, the multi-national force said.

Ahmadi said after the convoy was attacked NATO dropped a bomb next to a house in the village.

Ehsanullah, an elder from Khoshal village, where the strike took place, earlier told AFP that Haji Kot Aka's house was hit late Wednesday.

"They had four guests at home when the bombing took place. The bomb killed Aka, his wife, four children and three of the guests. One of the guests was wounded," he said.

Civilian casualties are a sensitive issue in Afghanistan, creating a rift between President Hamid Karzai's government and international forces as well as resentment on the ground against foreign troops.

Some 100,000 NATO and US-led troops are stationed in Afghanistan, helping the government fight a Taliban insurgency that is at its most deadly since the 2001 US-led invasion toppled the hard-line regime.

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