- BAGRAM, Afghanistan (Reuters)
- The U.S. military said 11 Afghan civilians, seven of them women, were
killed early on Wednesday in bombing by U.S.-led coalition forces in eastern
Afghanistan.
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- "Eleven Afghan civilians were killed and one was
wounded early this morning when a bomb dropped by coalition aircraft landed
in a house on the outskirts of Shkin near the Pakistan border," said
Douglas Lefforge, a spokesman at the U.S. military's headquarters at Bagram
air base north of Kabul.
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- Shkin is in Afghanistan's Paktika province.
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- "The tragic incident occurred when enemy forces
attacked an Afghan military post checkpoint that was providing security
near the Shkin firebase just before midnight last night," he said.
"Coalition forces never intentionally target civilian locations."
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- He said four government soldiers had been wounded in
the attack by opposing forces.
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- "A quick reaction force from Shkin responded and
pursued the attackers toward the border; close air support was requested,"
he said.
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- He said the dead were four men and seven women, adding
a man was also wounded.
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- About 11,500 American and allied troops are in Afghanistan
pursuing remnants of the former Taliban regime and the al Qaeda network
of Osama bin Laden, blamed for the September 11 attacks on the United States
in 2001.
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- In February, officials in Afghanistan's Helmand province
said at least 17 civilians were killed when coalition aircraft bombed a
mountain base believed to be sheltering Taliban fighters.
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- The U.S. military insisted only one civilian was wounded
in that incident.
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- Last July, more than 48 civilians were killed and over
100 wounded when a U.S. gunship fired on a wedding party in the central
town of Deh Rawud, according to villagers and Afghan officials. The U.S.
military said its gunship had come under anti-aircraft fire from the area.
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