– 2012-09-18 01:42:25

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/09/16/261870/23-afghans-killed-in-usled-airstrikes/

24 Afghans Killed in US-led Airstrikes
PressTV

(September 17, 2012) — At least 24 people, including eight women, have been killed in two US-led airstrikes on the eastern provinces of Kunar and Laghman in Afghanistan. Local witnesses said on Sunday that at least eight women died and several others were wounded in an overnight attack in Laghman.

The US-led military coalition has confirmed the airstrike.

Sixteen other Afghans were also killed in another airstrike carried out in Kunar on Sunday.
Many civilians have lost their lives in the US-led operations in various parts of Afghanistan over the past months, with Afghans becoming increasingly outraged at the seemingly endless number of the deadly assaults.

The US claims that its airstrikes target militants, but local sources say civilians have been the main victims of the attacks. The issue of civilian casualties in Afghanistan is highly sensitive and has been a major source of friction between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Washington.

NATO Airstrike ‘Kills Eight Women and Girls’ in Afghanistan
Associated Press and The Guardian

KABUL (September 16, 2012) — Eight women and girls gathering firewood were killed by a NATO airstrike in Afghanistan early on Sunday, according to Afghan officials. The coalition says it believes only insurgents were hit.

But villagers from Alingar district in the remote Laghman province, east of Kabul, brought the bodies to the governor’s office in the provincial capital, said Sarhadi Zewak, a spokesman for the provincial government. “They were shouting ‘death to America’ They were condemning the attack,” Zewak said.

Seven females were taken to area hospitals, some as young as 10, said provincial health director Latif Qayumi. NATO forces at first said that about 45 insurgents and no civilians were killed in the attack. But spokesman Jamie Graybeal said later that they took the allegations of civilian deaths seriously and were investigating them, though initial reports showed only insurgents were killed.

Air strikes have been a sensitive issue between the Afghan people – who say civilians often end up killed along with or instead of insurgents – and NATO forces who maintain that they are a key tactic against insurgent leaders.

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