NATO air strike kills 8 Afghan women

KABUL: Eight women were killed and eight women wounded in a NATO air strike east of Kabul, an Afghan official said Sunday, adding that an investigation had been ordered.

NATO’s US-led International Security Assistance Force said it had targeted insurgents, but had been made aware of “possible ISAF-caused civilian casualties” numbering five to eight, extending its sincerest condolences over the “tragic loss of life”.

Afghans said the incident happened overnight in the area of Dilaram village in the remote Alingar district of Laghman province. The women were said to have been out in the mountains collecting fire wood.

Sarhadi Zwak, a provincial spokesman, said it was a unilateral military operation not coordinated with Afghan forces.

“In this raid, eight women are killed and another eight women are wounded. The (provincial) governor has appointed a delegation to investigate,” Zwak told AFP.

Dozens of tribesmen from Alingar drove into the provincial capital, Mihtarlam, carrying the bodies of some of the victims they said were killed.

The crowd stopped outside the governor’s office, shouting “death to America, death to the Jews”, an AFP reporter said.

ISAF said initially that its troops had called in an air strike against about 45 insurgents in Laghman “after positively identifying hostile intent” and that “a large number of the insurgents” were killed.

4 foreign soldiers killed in insider attack

Four International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) soldiers were killed on Sunday following an insider attack suspected to involve members of Afghan police in southern Afghanistan, the alliance said.

A day earlier, an individual believed to be an Afghan Local Police (APL) member shot dead two international troops in the volatile south. A foreign troop returned fire, killing the assailant.

“The incident is currently under investigation,” said a brief statement from ISAF, which neither revealed the exact location of the latest green-on-blue attack nor the victims’ nationalities.

Mostly British, American and Canadian troops are stationed in the restive south, where the Taliban insurgents stormed NATO’s largest base in Helmand province late on Friday.

Four foreign soldiers and a policeman were killed in the attack that occurred in the Mizan district of Zabul province, the deputy police chief, Col. Ghulam Gilani Farahi, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

The provincial police chief and other security officials visited the scene to investigate the incident, Farahi said, adding that more details would be shared with the media after the investigation was completed.

Meanwhile, the Taliban said four US soldiers were killed and several others wounded when a policeman loyal to the movement opened fire on them. Several policemen also suffered casualties when US troops returned fire, they added.

On Saturday, two British soldiers were killed when a local policeman opened fire on them in the Greshk district of Helmand. The shooting is currently being probed.

Since the beginning of the current year, 51 foreign soldiers, mostly American, have been killed in 35 insider attacks by Afghan security personnel.

Sources: AFP & PAN