NATO airstrike kills 10 civilians, says Karzai

KABUL - Afghan President Hamid Karzai ordered an investigation Monday into a NATO airstrike that, according to his office, killed ten civilians - including eight school students - in eastern Afghanistan.

The civilians were killed in the airstrike Sunday morning in Narang district of eastern province of Kunar, the presidential palace said in a statement.

Karzai “strongly condemned the attack”, adding that the president sent a delegation, which included members of parliament, to the area to investigate the incident.

Villagers told local media that the air raid killed eight civilians, all members of the same family, but Kunar’s provincial governor, Sayed Fazelullah Wahidi had earlier said, “according to our initial information all the dead people were militants”.

He had said the air operation left 11 militants, including one of their commanders dead.

NATO military in Kabul said they were looking into the incident, but declined to comment.

The Afghan parliament also sent a delegation Monday to investigate the bombing, spokesman Haseeb Noori said.

Civilian casualties at the hands of NATO-led forces have sparked anger among Afghans in the past.

Meanwhile, a group of Taliban fighters attacked a police post in Qadis district in the western province of Badghis Sunday night, killing two officers, said Abdul Raouf Ahmadi, a spokesman for the police in the region.

He said three militants were also killed in the exchange of fire, while three police officers were missing after the attack.