US-led airstrike kills Afghan civilians

A US-led airstrike in troubled eastern Afghanistan has killed and injured scores of Afghans, including civilians and police officers.

Many sustained injuries in the airstrike which took place in Doab town, in the province of Nuristan on Thursday, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Local officials say at least 17 policemen are among the dead. They say a number of civilians were also killed, but the exact number is not clear yet.

Medical sources say they have so far received the dead bodies of at least five civilians.

NATO says its forces mistakenly conducted the air raid and it was actually meant to recapture Doab from the Taliban.
Hundreds of civilians have been killed in the US-led airstrikes and ground operations in various parts of Afghanistan over the past few months, with Afghans becoming increasingly outraged over the seemingly endless number of deadly assaults.

Civilian casualties have long been a source of friction between the Afghan government and US-led foreign forces. The loss of civilian lives at the hand of foreign forces has dramatically increased anti-American sentiments in Afghanistan.

The surge in violence comes despite the presence of about 150,000 foreign troops, who are engaged in the so-called war on terror. The war in Afghanistan, with civilian and military casualties at record highs, has become the longest war in US history.