New US airstrike kills 10 Afghan children, 2 women in Wardak province

An air strike conducted by US forces appears to have claimed lives of a dozen members of an Afghan family, most of them children, in the country’s east-central province of Maidan Wardak.

An air strike conducted by US forces appears to have claimed lives of a dozen members of an Afghan family, most of them children, in the country’s east-central province of Maidan Wardak.

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, known as UNAMA, said in a statement on Wednesday that Sunday night’s air strike destroyed a house in Wardak province near the capital Kabul. The victims included 10 children aged six to 15 and two women.

According to the UNAMA, the latest incident brings to at least 21, including 14 children, the number of civilians killed in airstrikes in recent days.

The findings support earlier comments from provincial council member Ahmad Jahfari, who said that 12 members of a family had been killed in an airstrike targeting Taliban militants.

A villager called Abdullah said that two of his sisters died in the attack that he said claimed the lives of more than 12 civilians.  

“Three other houses were also destroyed,” Abdullah said, adding, “They wanted to bomb a Taliban prison about 100 meters (330 feet) from our house.”

The UN mission is also reviewing reports of civilian casualties from “a number of alleged airstrikes in other parts of the country”, its statement said. That includes “credible reports” that nine members of a family, including four children, were killed in an air strike on Saturday in the eastern province of Kapisa.