NATO air strike kills at least 27 Afghan civilians

NATO confirmed the incident in a statement and said that its forces fired on a group of vehicles, thinking they contained insurgents. Only later it was discovered that civilians including women and children were in the cars, the statement added. The Afghan government condemned the incident as "unjustifiable", urging NATO forces to take maximum care before conducting any military operation. The commander of foreign forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal has apologised to President Hamid Karzai for the incident. The NATO says a joint investigation with Afghan forces is underway.

Rising civilian deaths

Civilian casualties have long been a sore point between President Karzai and foreign troops in the country. According to Afghan officials, last Thursday, a NATO bombing raid in the northern province of Kunduz killed seven Afghan policemen. On February 15, at least nine Afghan civilians were killed when a rocket fired by NATO troops in southern town of Nad Ali missed its target and hit a house.

The joint operation by NATO and Afghan forces in Nad Ali and Marjah, in the Taliban heartland of southern Afghanistan, is now in its ninth day. Though Afghan police have moved into the area, NATO commanders say it could be another month before it is cleared of Taliban fighters and booby traps.

Dutch likely to pull out

Meanwhile in the Netherlands, the government collapsed at the weekend after the coalition parties were unable to agree on Afghanistan. The center-left Labor Party quit the coalition, saying it would not accept the extension of the Dutch mission in Afghanistan. The current Dutch mandate expires in August this year. Nearly 2,000 Dutch troops are currently stationed in the central province of Uruzgan.

du/AFP/dpa
Editor: Thomas Bärthlein