Monday, February 22, 2010
KABUL (AP) — A NATO airstrike killed at least 27 Afghan civilians, officials said today, in the third coalition strike this month to kill noncombatants and draw a sharp rebuke from Afghanistan's government about endangering civilians.
In eastern Afghanistan, a suicide bomber killed 15 people on Monday, including a tribal leader who played a key role in a failed attempt to capture al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden at Tora Bora in 2001, police said.
The top NATO commander, U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, apologized to President Hamid Karzai for the Sunday airstrike, which occurred in the central Afghan province of Uruzgan.
The Afghanistan Council of Ministers strongly condemned the airstrike, calling it "unjustifiable."
It said reports indicated that NATO planes fired at a convoy of three vehicles, killing at least 27 people, including four women and a child, and injuring 12 others.
The ministers urged NATO to "closely coordinate and exercise maximum care before conducting any military operation" to avoid further civilian casualties.