23 March, 2011

KHOST CITY (PAN): An airstrike by NATO-led forces killed four people, including a child, in southeastern Afghanistan, officials said on Wednesday.

Another two people were injured when a helicopter bombed two cars at a bus stand in Sabari district of Khost province, the district crime branch police chief, Mohammad Ali, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Two people were killed in one car and two others, including a child, in the second, both of which were parked at the Tirzai bus stand in Khalbasat town, Ali said. He said it was not clear if the dead were civilians or militants.

Another child and the driver of the second car were injured.

Police chief, Brig. Gen. Abdul Hakim Ishaaqzai, said the dead included two militants and a child and the two injured were civilians.

A doctor on duty at the Khost civil hospital, Bashir, confirmed receiving six injured people at the hospital, with two of them in a critical condition.

One of the injured, Mohammad Zaman, said he and five others were sitting in a car when foreign troops dropped a bomb on them from a helicopter.

A witness, Rahimullah, said two helicopters arrived at the scene and bombed two cars at the bus stand, killing all inside.

The International Security Force in Kabul said it had launched an investigation.

myn/ma/cas