| GEO World | | Nato acknowledges Afghan civilian deaths | Updated at: 0813 PST, Friday, August 06, 2010
 KABUL: Nato has admitted that it killed Afghan civilians when battling the Taliban in the east of the country.
The undetermined number of deaths occurred on Thursday in the Shirzad district of Nangarhar province. Nato's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) promised in a statement that the families of the victims would be compensated.
"Following information received from provincial and local Nangarhar officials, it appears that between four and a dozen or more civilians were killed," the statement said.
Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's president, has ordered a probe into the death of at least 12 civilians after a district chief said a total of 26 people had been killed in two separate incidents in the area.
A media correspondent, reporting from Kabul, the capital, said that the deaths were caused by an air raid.
"There have been civilians that were killed in what ISAF is admitting is an airstrike carried out by their aircraft. They say they are investigating the incident."
He said that Nato had called in air support for operations to attack three locations in the area.
He added that some locals have said that up to 32 people in total were killed, including two children.
"The number of fatalities is not clear but locals at the scene are telling us that ... people were killed as they were taking away the bodies from an earlier attack.
"But there has been no word from the Taliban ... about this incident." |  | | | |
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