KABUL — A NATO airstrike targeting Taliban fighters Friday accidentally killed seven civilians, including three children, in the southern province of Helmand, one of the most insecure regions in the country, Afghan officials said. NATO officials are investigating.
It occurred in the Now Zad district when the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force called in an airstrike on two vehicles thought to be carrying a Taliban leader and his associates. A NATO team assessing the damage discovered the civilians after the airstrike. NATO officials have not disclosed how many civilians were killed and wounded, and did not say whether suspected Taliban were among the casualties.
Afghan officials in Helmand said the dead included two men, two women and three children. Three more children and two adults were wounded, the Helmand governor’s office said in a statement Saturday.
NATO officials offered only minimal details Saturday as they investigated.
Meanwhile, a suicide bomb attempt targeting a border police official in Kandahar province Friday left one child dead and four others wounded. The Associated Press
