15 die as pick-up is hit in Nato air-strike

Kabul. —  Afghan officials say an apparent Nato airstrike has killed 15 people — nine of them civilians, including women and children — in an eastern province where the Taliban are strong. Nato, however, says 10 insurgents were killed. Kunar province police chief Abdul Habib Sayed Khaili says the airstrike hit a pick-up truck soon after three Arab and three Afghan militants boarded it on Saturday evening. He said some reports called it a drone strike.

But Nato spokesperson 1st Lieutenant Ann-Marie Annicelli said yesterday that it was a precision airstrike that killed 10 “enemy forces” and that she had no reports of civilians dying.

Civilian deaths in Nato operations have long been a sore point between Afghanistan and the US-led troops here. — AFP.