AlQa'dah 2, 1434, Sep 8, 2013, SPA -- Afghan officials said Sunday that an apparent NATO airstrike killed 15 people - nine of them civilians, including women and children - in an eastern province where the Taliban are strong. NATO said 10 militants died in the strike, and that it had no reports of any civilian deaths, AP reported. Kunar province police chief Abdul Habib Sayed Khaili said the airstrike hit a pickup truck carrying the women and children in Qoro village soon after militants boarded it Saturday evening. He said some reports called it a drone strike, but that Afghan officials had been unable to confirm that. Of the 15 dead, four were women, four were children and one was the driver, the police official said. Watapur district chief Zalmai Yousefi confirmed the airstrike. He also said 15 people were killed, including women and children. NATO spokeswoman 1st Lt. AnnMarie Annicelli confirmed that the military alliance carried out a "precision strike" that killed 10 "enemy forces," but that it had received no reports of any civilians dying in the airstrike. Annicelli had no immediate details on who exactly the dead were or what prompted the airstrike, but said NATO was still investigating the matter. "We take all allegations of civilian casualties seriously," NATO said in a statement.
