KABUL, (KUNA): 22 civilians killed in afghanistan. Two ISAF soldiers, 22 civilians and several Taliban militants have been killed in three separate incidents of violence in Afghanistan, officials said on Monday. A statement from the NATO headquarters in Kabul said two of its soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb explosion in southern Afghanistan.
It said the casualty was not related to the Operation Mushtarak. Separately, 20 Afghan civilians were killed in bombing by the NATO aircrafts in the central province of Uruzgan. The NATO press office in Kabul said they had ordered investigations into the incident. The Afghan Interior Ministry and locals in the area confirmed that all those killed in the air strike were civilians.
The NATO statement, however, said that that they had located a group of suspected insurgents, who were believed to be planning an attack on the Afghan and ISAF troops. An air strike was carried out resulting in the killing of several people who later proved to be civilians, with some of them women and children. This is the second biggest incident of civilian casualties following the launch of the operation against Taliban in the Marja district of Helmand by the NATO and Afghan troops. Earlier, 12 civilians were killed in Helmand province as rockets fired by the NATO troops landed in civilian populated area.
In a second incident, locals and Afghan officials said two civilians were killed in another incident of firing in the central province of Kapisa. The Afghan officials said the province said the civilians died as a mortar fired by the foreign troops hit a civilian car in Tagab area of Kapisa province. In yet another operation, the Afghan and NATO troops claimed killing 10 Taliban militants in the eastern province of Kunar. Officials in the mountainous province said Taliban attacked the NATO and Afghan troops. The retaliatory attack resulted in the killing of 10 Taliban.
