NATO air strike in Afghansitan

NATO airstrike kills 10 Afghan civilians, mostly women and children - officials

10 civilians killed in NATO air strike in Afghanistan

RT,

13 February, 2013,

Numerous women and children are among the ten killed in a NATO air strike in Afghanistan, say Afghan officials, as AFP reports.

The air raid struck a Taliban hideout in a remote area of eastern Afghanistan, killing "five children, four women and a man,” Kunar provincial governor, Sayed Fazulullah Wahidi, told AFP.

NATO is investigating the allegations, according to a spokesperson. 

The number of civilian casualties from western intervention has been the subject of ongoing controversy. Eight women and girls were killed in a NATO air strike last September, also in eastern Afghanistan. At the time, the International Security Assistance Force stated that they took “full responsibility for this tragedy.” The strike had also been aimed at suppressing insurgents.

Up to 11,864 civilians were killed in Afghanistan between 2007 until the end of 2011, according to a Congressional Research Service report published last December. UN reporting on Afghan casualties didn’t begin until 2007.

On Tuesday, Obama announced the withdrawal of 34,000 troops from Afghanistan – approximately half of the US forces – by 2014.