One killed, four wounded in US airstrike in Afghanistan

At least one person has been killed and four others wounded in a US-led airstrike in Afghanistan’s central-eastern province of Maidan Wardak, local officials say.

The casualties come after warplanes belonging to the Western military alliance targeted a hideout of Taliban militants in the troubled region.

There are conflicting reports about the identity of the victims. Locals say the dead and the injured were civilians, but provincial officials insist that they were all Taliban militants.

Wardak province has seen several such airstrikes in recent weeks. Washington claims that its airstrikes target militants, but local sources say civilians are the main victims of the attacks.

Civilian casualties caused by foreign forces have been a major source of tension between Kabul and Washington. They have also sparked massive anti-US protests in the past.

The Afghan government has on numerous occasions warned Washington to stop attacks on innocent civilians.

In another development, a provincial intelligence official was killed, following a roadside bomb blast in Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar Province.

The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror. The offensive removed the Taliban from power, but insecurity continues to rise across the country, despite the presence of thousands of US-led troops.