KABUL — An early morning NATO airstrike in Afghanistan's eastern Logar province killed five Afghan soldiers on Thursday, defense ministry officials said. The coalition said the deaths were an accident and expressed its condolences. NATO said the Afghan soldiers were “accidentally killed,” without specifying whether it was the result of an airstrike. Unusually reticent, Afghan President Hamid Karzai did not immediately condemn the international troops, telling reporters during a state visit to Sri Lanka that the incident is being investigated. Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi said the strike occurred in the province's Chakh district, and that eight Afghan National Army troops were also wounded in the incident. The ministry's helicopters ferried the wounded to Kabul, he said. — AP
