At least 30 Afghan civilians killed in air strike

More than 30 civilians were reported killed and dozens wounded yesterday in an air strike by foreign forces fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, a regional official said. "It happened in the early morning," provincial...

More than 30 civilians were reported killed and dozens wounded yesterday in an air strike by foreign forces fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, a regional official said.

"It happened in the early morning," provincial official Mohammed Daoud told Reuters. "Between 30-37 civilians have been killed and tens (dozens) of others have been injured."

A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) for Afghanistan confirmed the incident, but said his reports from the field said only "a small number" of civilians had been involved.

Foreign forces in Afghanistan frequently accuse the Taliban of using civilians as human shields.

A Reuters photographer saw several children being treated at a Helmand hospital for injuries they said they received in the airstrike.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.