KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — NATO says six civilians were accidentally killed and several others were wounded by coalition forces Thursday in eastern Afghanistan — just one day after six Afghan soldiers died in a botched NATO airstrike.
NATO said Friday that an assessment team determined that the civilians were killed when artillery fire fell short of its target in Jani Khel district of Paktia province.
Initially, the coalition reported that eight Afghan civilians had been injured and taken to a nearby NATO outpost for treatment, and that one later died. Later, it was determined that the bodies of those killed had been removed before NATO units arrived on the scene following the errant rounds.
The five Afghan soldiers were killed Wednesday in an airstrike in the Andar district of Ghazni province.
