NATO rockets kill 12 Afghan civilians
0 
NATO rockets killed 12 Afghan civilians on Sunday in an offensive against Taliban in southern Afghanistan.
|
|
|
U.S. Marines from Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, protect an Afghan man and his child after Taliban fighters opened fire in the town of Marjah, in Nad Ali district, Helmand province, February 13, 2010. [Xinhua] |
NATO claimed responsibility for the deaths, which it said happened when two rockets missed their target and landed on a compound as troops came under fire in the the Nad Ali district of Helmand province.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai expressed sadness and said the victims were members of the same family.
The offensive is one of NATO's biggest against the Taliban since the war began in 2001. It aims at re-establishing government control over the area which remains a Taliban stronghold.
