Airstrike kills nine civilians in Farah

From Agence-France Presse:

Afghan air strikes kill nine civilians

KABUL, Jul 16 (AFP) — Afghan authorities said Wednesday air strikes against extremist rebels in southwestern Afghanistan had killed four women and five children as well as several insurgents.

A "big number" of rebels were killed in other operations while three more civilians died in militant bombings, they said, with violence linked to an insurgency led by the hardline Taliban surging in recent weeks.

International troops said they were looking into allegations that civilians were killed in the volatile Bakwa district of southwestern Farah province.

"The bombing started Tuesday morning," deputy provincial governor Mohammad Younus Rasouli told AFP. "One bomb struck a civilian home which killed four women, four young girls and a boy." ... (link)

Meanwhile, in Kunar province, American NATO troops abandoned the outpost which they set up recently in remote Wanat district, after nine US soldiers were killed in an insurgent attack. That attack is itself rumoured to have been in retaliation for the killing of some 47 (perhaps 52) civilians in airstrikes on July 4 in nearby Nuristan province. The Times reports that, after the NATO troops left their post, Taliban militants quickly seized the area from embattled Afghan forces.