US-led airstrike kills 15 in Afghanistan

KABUL: A US-led airstrike has killed at least 15 people in northeastern Afghanistan amid growing discontent over the rising number of civilian deaths in the war-torn country.

The US-led military alliance says the airstrike took place in Kunar Province, near the border with Pakistan.
Afghan officials have repeatedly asked US-led forces to end air raids that mostly inflict cause civilian casualties. US-led forces, however, maintain that they are targeting militants.
The loss of civilian lives at the hand of foreign forces has led to a dramatic increase in anti-American sentiments in Afghanistan.
The US-led force has stepped up attacks in Afghanistan under Washington’s new war strategy, which aims to reduce its military presence next year.

A mine explosion has claimed the lives of four more US-led soldiers in southwestern Afghanistan, amid concerns of the rise of such incidents in the war-torn country.
In a statement issued on Friday, Georgian Defense Ministry said that four of the country’s nationals with the US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were killed in the Helmand province while they were on patrol, AFP reported.
The ministry released the names of the soldiers as Col. Ramaz Gogiashvili, Sergeant Davit Tsetskhladze, Corporal Giorgi Kolkhitashvili and Corporal Nugzar Kalandadze.
However, it was not clear whether the Georgians were among the six international soldiers that on Thursday NATO declared dead.
The ministry expressed condolences to the soldiers’ families and said that it would return their bodies to home as soon as possible.
The increasing number of troop casualties in Afghanistan has sparked widespread anger in the US and other NATO member states, undermining public support for the continuation of the Afghan war.
In another statement NATO confirmed six more US-led forces have been killed in Afghanistan as militants step up their attacks against foreign forces in the country.
NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) announced that three soldiers have been killed by a bomb explosion and another three died in separate attacks.
ISAF says the attacks happened in the country’s troubled south but has not yet disclosed the nationalities of the soldiers.
About 550 foreign soldiers have been killed in the Afghan war so far this year.
ISAF has also announced that one of its air weapons teams has accidentally struck a group of civilians in Ghazni province killing four and injuring three others.
The loss of civilian lives at the hand of foreign forces has led to a dramatic increase in anti-American sentiments in Afghanistan.
A recent UN report revealed that civilian deaths have jumped by 31 percent in the first half of 2010.
The recent surge in fighting between US-led coalition forces and Taliban militants has made 2010 the deadliest year for the foreign troops since the invasion of Afghanistan began in 2001.

Source: Press TV