Airstrike in Afghanistan Kills 21 Civilians

An Afghan official said civilian homes were bombed in an air raid led by U.S. troops in the country’s Sangin district Wednesday. Tragically, this latest reported incident is not an isolated occurrence in the battle zones of Afghanistan.

BBC:

One local resident told the BBC that a number of bodies had been taken to the British base in Sangin to show they were not [Taliban] fighters. But British forces would not confirm this.

NATO said their helicopters were helping to airlift injured civilians for hospital treatment.

The BBC’s Alastair Leithead in Kabul says there have been a number of incidents in the past few weeks where U.S. special forces outside NATO have been blamed for killing civilians.

In the worst incident, more than 50 civilians were reported killed in the western province of Herat last week.

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