UN claims air strike killed 90 Afghan civilians
Tuesday, 26 Aug 2008 14:00
Hamid Karzai has criticised the air strike
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The United Nations (UN) has said that there is evidence to suggest that 90 Afghan civilians were killed in air strikes by US-led coalition forces last week.
In a statement released on Tuesday, UN special envoy to Afghanistan, Kai Eide, said: "Investigations by UNAMA (United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan) found convincing evidence, based on the testimony of eyewitnesses, and others, that some 90 civilians were killed, including 60 children, 15 women and 15 men."
The US military initially declared that it was unaware of any civilian casualties resulting from the air strike, claiming they had instead killed 30 militants.
However, an investigation into the incident has now been launched by the US army.
The strike has led to growing tensions between the Afghan government and its Nato backers with president Hamid Karzai stating earlier that the air strikes had achieved nothing but civilian casualties.
On Monday, Afghanistan's government ordered a review of operations by foreign forces.