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Air raids kill 9 Afghan soldiers

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-10-22 14:53

KABUL -- Nine Afghan soldiers were killed and three others injured as the international troops carried out air strikes against suspected Taliban hideouts in Afghanistan's eastern province of Khost early Wednesday, Afghan Defense Ministry said in a press release.

"The international troops carried out air raids at 2 a.m. local time (2130 GMT) in Syed Khil district resultantly leaving nine soldiers dead and three others wounded," the press release added without further elaboration.

However, Lutfullah Babakerkhil the district chief of Duamanda told Xinhua that the incident occurred early morning in the above district when the US-led Coalition forces carried out strikes killing eight soldiers and wounding five others including a civilian.

He asserted that the air raid took place when a military operation against militants was underway in the area.

Neither US military nor NATO officials were immediately available to make comment.

Such mistakes during military operations have claimed hundreds of lives over the past seven years and the bloodiest one in 2008 left 91 non-combatants in the western Herat province in last August which triggered a widespread protest across the war-torn country.