Xinhua News Agency
September 16, 2012

Air strike kills 8 civilians, wounds 7 in Afghan’s Laghman province

MEHTERLAM, Afghanistan: An air strike carried out by NATO-led troops in the eastern Laghman province 90 km east of capital city Kabul killed eight civilians and wounded seven others early Sunday, spokesman for provincial administration Sarhadi Zawak said.

“The tragic incident took place in Norlam village of Alinegar district at 03:00 a.m. local time leaving eight civilians, all women, dead and injuring seven more women,” Zawak told Xinhua.

He also criticized the NATO-led ISAF troops for carrying out the attack, saying the alliance without coordination with the local authorities launched the air strike inflicting casualties on civilians.

Meantime, Abdul Khaliq Pashai, former senator of Laghman province, in talks with Xinhua said that some 30 women were going on the nearby mountain to collect firewood when came under deadly attack.

The NATO-led ISAF has yet to release any statement in this regard.

Russia Today
September 16, 2012

NATO strike kills women and girls gathering firewood – Afghan officials

A NATO airstrike killed eight women and girls in eastern Afghanistan, local officials reported. The alliance said the strike targeted 45 armed insurgents but admitted some civilians may have been killed.

The women were gathering firewood when they were killed by the strike, spokesperson for the Laghman provincial government Sarhadi Zewak said. Several women were also injured during the NATO strike, he added.

Villagers brought the victims’ bodies to the local governor’s office on Sunday in the wake of the attack, amid cries of “Death to America!” said Zewak.

Seven females are now in nearby hospitals receiving treatment, some of whom are as young as ten years old, AP reports.

Initial reports claimed that as many as 45 armed insurgents were killed in a “precision air strike,” NATO spokesperson Jamie Graybeal said. However, Major Adam Wojack, a spokesman for the Isaf later told the BBC that between five and eight civilians may have been caught in the crossfire in a “tragic loss of life.”

The issue of frequent civilian deaths in NATO military operations is another point of contention between Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai and the US.

Last year, some 400 Afghan civilians were killed in operations conducted by international and Afghan troops, the UN reported…