South Asia News
NATO assesses Afghan civilian casualties from airstrike
Dec 15, 2010, 11:58 GMT
Kabul - NATO said Wednesday it was assessing a incident in which its aircraft supposedly killed an Afghan civilian and injured two children in southern Afghanistan.
The warplane was supporting joint Afghan and NATO troops in Marjah district in Helmand province, who had come under fire during their foot patrol on Tuesday, the alliance said in a statement.
'We are here to protect the Afghan people and initial indications are that in this case we may have failed,' general Tim Zadalis, direct of air plans and projects for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.
Civilian casualties at the hands of international forces have long been a contentious issue in Afghanistan. Officials have repeatedly said that such deaths have sapped the public support for presence of 150,000 US and ISAF troops currently based there.
More than 2,400 civilians were killed by Afghan, foreign troops and Taliban militants from January to September, the bloodiest period for civilians since the ouster of the Taliban regime in late 2001, according to the latest United Nations report.
NATO maintains the majority of civilian casualties are due to Taliban activities.
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