NATO Airstrike in Afghanistan Kills Children
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iStockphoto/Thinkstock(SHIGAL, Afghanistan) — As many as ten children and two women are reported to have been killed after a NATO air strike in Shigal, in eastern Afghanistan, according to a report from BBC News.
A local official said the Nato strikes were called in to support an operation by U.S. and Afghan forces targeting senior Taliban commanders in the area.
The official said the strike killed eight Taliban members, but it also reportedly killed twelve women and children civilians, and wounded six additional women.
The NATO-led International Security Assistant Force (ISAF) said that it was “aware of reports of several civilians injured from the engagement, but no reports of civilian deaths.” Photographers from international news agencies dispatched to the scene took pictures that appeared to show the bodies of several dead children.
“ISAF takes all reports of civilian casualties seriously, and we are currently assessing the incident,” the ISAF said in a statement.
A NATO airstrike in the same area of February of last year killed at least 10 civilians, mostly women and children.
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