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US air strike in Afghanistan kills 47 civilians
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-07-12 10:10

KABUL -- The US-led Coalition force killed at least 47 civilians in the airstrike on July 6 in the eastern Afghan province Nangahar, said an Afghan official on Friday.

Burhanuallah Shinwari, head of an investigation commission appointed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, told media that they found at least 47 civilians, most of them women and children, were killed by the Coalition airstrike when they were attending a wedding party in the Khashmina district of Nangahar province.

"Nine others, also civilians, were wounded in the Deh Bala district of Nangahar by the bombard," Shiwari said.

However the Coalition forces had rejected immediately the reported civilian casualties soon after the airstrike, saying all slain were militants.    

According to media reports, the Coalition forces killed near 64 civilians in two separate strikes on July 4 and July 6 in Nuristan and Nangahar province bordering Pakistan.

A high-level commission was appointed by President Karzai to look into the claims.  

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) revealed in a statement released in Kabul on Wednesday that over 250 civilians have been killed or injured in various incidents in Afghanistan since July 4.

A total of 70,000 multi-national troops are deployed across Afghanistan under the flags of the NATO-led ISAF and the US-led Coalition forces respectively to maintain stability and help in reconstruction.

Militancy and conflicts have claimed the lives of more than 2, 000 people with some 700 civilians so far this year in Afghanistan.