NATO air strike kills two children, nine suspected Taliban

GHAZNI: A NATO helicopter supporting Afghan security forces killed two children and nine suspected Taliban fighters on Saturday, officials said, a month after President Hamid Karzai forbade troops to call for foreign air support.

The deaths reopen an often heated debate between those who blame NATO air strikes for civilian deaths and others who argue that NATO air support is vital for protecting vulnerable Afghan security forces.

Afghan police had been patrolling in the southeastern town of Ghazni when they came under attack by insurgents, NATO spokesman Major Adam Wojack said.

"International Security Assistance Forces supported the Afghan unit in contact by engaging the insurgent forces with helicopter-delivered direct fire," he said, adding the coalition was investigating reports of civilian casualties.

Nine Taliban were killed and eight civilians were wounded, said Colonel Mohammad Hussain, a senior police detective.

A Reuters reporter saw the bodies of two children that local people said were killed in the air strike. (Reuters)