Wednesday, 13 July – Provincial authorities in Logar province said, at least 16 civilians were killed following Air and land attacks by NATO forces in the eastern Logar province on Tuesday.
Head of the Logar regional council, Abdul Wali Wakil said, at least nine civilians were killed during air strikes while seven others including children and women were killed during a ground operation.
Officials further added, the operation was conducted in Kharaba area of the Azra district at midnight, NATO forces used air assaults and ground forces to target the militants.
NATO officials in a statement admitted to the air and land aggression and have claimed that a number of insurgents were killed during the operation.
NATO officials did not mention anything about civilian casualties and said that they responded to insurgents fires.
In a separate incident on July 7, at least 11 were killed by NATO air strikes in Shamal district of easter Khost province.
NATO officials admitted civilian casualties and said that civilians were mistakenly targeted due to wrong intelligence coordinates by Afghan intelligence services.
“Accidental” deaths of civilians have generated friction and tension between President Hamid Karzai and the foreign occupation troops.
Karzai warned in late May that if NATO persisted in attacking civilians, NATO forces would be labeled as “invaders.”
According to official UN statistics, 1,777 civilians were killed violently last year in Afghanistan, a 15 percent increase over.
