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28 Afghan civilians killed in US airstrike

[Image: REUTERS]
RAWA News, August 5, 2010 -- US-led forces in Afghanistan regularly launch attacks on alleged militant hideouts, but the strikes usually result in civilian casualties.
The American forces launched two airstrikes in Nangarhar province on Thursday morning, witnesses said.
One of the attacks left at least 30 people dead and injured. The other strike, which hit a funeral procession in a separate area, killed 28 civilians including two children.

Thursday's incident came after another US airstrike killed at least 52 civilians, including several women and children, in the city of Sangin in southern Helmand province last month.

US-led forces in Afghanistan regularly launch attacks on alleged militant hideouts, but the strikes usually result in civilian casualties.

Despite a promise by the commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan to reduce civilian casualties, the civilian fatalities are on the rise.

In a new statement, General David Petraeus emphasized on Wednesday that protecting the Afghan people was the top priority in the nine-year war.

"We must continue -- indeed, redouble -- our efforts to reduce the loss of innocent civilian life to an absolute minimum," said Petraeus.

Report from BBC News, Aug. 5, 2010:

KABUL: Dozens of civilians have been killed and several others injured in Afghanistan after US warplanes bombarded the country's east, according to witnesses.
Mohammad Hassan, head of Nangarhar's Khogyani district, told news agencies that between 12 and 14 people had been killed in one incident.
Villagers were carrying the body of a flood victim for burial in their home village when they were bombed by Nato planes, he told the Reuters news agency.
The attack was also reported by the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press news agency.
It quoted local people as saying that a passenger vehicle carrying the body from Nangarhar's provincial capital Jalalabad to the Hesarak Ghaljai area had stopped near the River Hashimkhel because of a rise in the water level.

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