NATO takes blame for Afghan deaths

Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan

NATO took the blame Friday for accidentally killing six civilians and wounding several others in eastern Afghanistan — just a day after five Afghan soldiers died in a botched coalition airstrike.

The back-to-back incidents come as international troops are trying to gain the trust of the Afghan people and improve coordination with Afghan security forces in hopes of handing over more responsibility for security to them nearly nine years into the war.

NATO said an assessment team, comprising both coalition and Afghan forces, determined that the civilians were killed when artillery fire fell short of its target Thursday in Jani Khel district of Paktia province. A full investigation is under way.

Initially, the coalition reported that eight Afghan civilians had been injured and taken to a nearby NATO outpost for treatment and that one subsequently died. Later, it was determined that the bodies of those killed had been removed before NATO units arrived on the scene after the errant rounds, NATO said in a statement.

During the past two days, Afghan and NATO leaders have had meetings with local elders and community leaders in Jani Khel to discuss the incident.

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