US-led airstrike kills four in western Afghanistan

At least four people have been killed and several others injured in a fresh US-led airstrike in the troubled western Afghanistan, security sources say.

Local Afghan security officials said on Wednesday that the attack took place in an area of Herat Province.

There are conflicting reports about the identity of the victims.

Afghan officials and the US-led western military alliance say the victims were Taliban members who were behind Tuesday’s deadly rocket attack on the nearby military airport of Shindand.

However, Local residents and eyewitnesses say all of the dead were civilians.

Washington claims that its airstrikes target militants, but local sources say civilians have been the main victims of the attacks.

In a separate development, the US-led troops also killed a civilian and detained two others during a military operation in southeastern province of Logar. Locals say the civilians were innocent and had no links to the Taliban militant group.

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

Civilian casualties caused by foreign forces have been a major source of tension between Kabul and Washington.

Militancy is escalating in Afghanistan more than a decade after the US-led invasion of the country.

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.