Kabul - Conflicting accounts were given Thursday of a NATO attack in southern Afghanistan with villagers saying nine farmers were killed while working a field and international forces claiming eight militants died while planting a roadside bomb. The latest victims in the Afghan conflict also included five children who died in a bombing in the eastern province of Nuristan, a US soldier killed in a militant attack on his patrol also in the east and 22 Taliban in an Afghan-NATO operation in the north, officials said.
In the southern province of Helmand, local villagers on Thursday brought the bodies of nine civilians to Lashkargah, the capital, claiming they had been killed by a mortar round from NATO forces.
Haji Gholam Rasoul, one of the villagers, said the deceased, including three children, were working in a field in the Babaji area of the provincial capital Wednesday night when the mortar round hit them.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack, which his office said left nine civilians dead. The president ordered the Interior Ministry to launch an investigation into the incident.
Daoud Ahmadi, spokesman for Helmand's governor, confirmed the incident, but said according to NATO sources in the province, the attack killed eight Taliban militants who were trying to plant a roadside bomb in the area.
NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed in a statement that its forces targeted a group of nine individuals "whom were believed to be involved in emplacing an IED (Improvised Explosive Device)" by a roadside in Babaji village.
"ISAF forces were not aware of any civilians in the vicinity at the time of the strike. Only those involved in the IED emplacement were targeted," it said, adding, "ISAF takes all credible allegations of civilian casualties very seriously and investigates each allegation to determine the facts."
ISAF was investigating the incident, it added.
The attack in the province came a day after an Afghan policeman opened fire on British forces at a checkpoint in the Nad Ali district, killing five British soldiers and injuring six.
A US soldier was also killed Wednesday afternoon when Taliban insurgents attacked his patrol in eastern Afghanistan, the US military said in a statement without giving details of the incident.
Five children were killed Wednesday in an explosion in Nuristan's Barg-e-Matal district, Governor Jamaluddin Bader said.
An investigation was under way to find out what caused the blast, he said, adding that villagers told him the explosion was triggered by a rocket round left behind b
