Afghanistan: Has NATO Airstrike Killed 17 Civilians? (Al Jazeera English)
Wednesday, June 6, 2012 at 9:08
UPDATE 0815 GMT: Two suicide bombers have killed at least 22 people and wounded about 50 civilians at a bazaar near Kandahar, according to local police.
The explosion occurred near the city's airport, which houses a large NATO airbase, in an area used by vehicles carrying supplies for the international force. The police said an attacker drove a motorcycle packed with explosives into the area, while another attacker detonated bombs after approaching on foot.
A local Afghan official has said that 17 civilians have been killed in a NATO airstrike in eastern Afghanistan.
In a statement, NATO said it knew of only two light injuries to civilians during the pre-dawn incident on Wednesday.
The target of the strike was the house of a tribal elder in Baraki Barak district of Logar province, the head of the Logar provincial council said.
He said the tribal elder and 16 members of his family, including women and children, were killed.
Six Taliban fighters, who were nearby, were also killed.
"That story in part is being corroborated by the governor's office which also says some civilians have been killed, as well as six armed people," said Al Jazeera's Bernard Smith, reporting from the Afghan capital Kabul on Wednesday.
"NATO is sticking to the line at the moment that it was targeting a Taliban leader and it called in the airstrike and only two women suffered light injuries," Smith added.
The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) joint command issued a statement, and confirmed it conducted an operation to detain a Taliban leader in Logar.
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