At least 27 Afghan civilians have killed and 11 more wounded in U.S. bombing in southern Urzugan province on Sunday, military officials in Kabul said.

Afghan security officials said that at least 27 people including women and children were killed in the strike and dozens more wounded.

The incident took place when a U.S. war planes targeted three mini-buses carrying civilians including children and women from Char Cheno district of Uruzgan, Afghan Ministry of Interior said.

Meanwhile, ISAF troops in Afghanistan in a press release confirmed the strike and pledged further investigation about the case.

“A group of suspected insurgents, believed to be en route to attack a joint Afghan-ISAF unit, was engaged by an airborne weapons team resulting in a number of individuals killed and wounded”, ISAF press statement said.

After the incident, Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack and asked the ISAF commander, Gen. Stanly McChrystal that killing civilians would not help the battle against Terrorism in the country.

Gen. McChrystal expressed his sorrow and deep condolence over the death of civilians in the air strike. 

“We are extremely saddened by the tragic loss of innocent lives. I have made it clear to our forces that we are here to protect the Afghan people, and inadvertently killing or injuring civilians undermines their trust and confidence in our mission. We will re-double our efforts to regain that trust”,  ISAF commander Gen. Stanly McChrystal said.

It is not the first time that NATO forces killing the civilians in their raids. Before that many civilians were killed and wounded in the raids of NATO troopers in different parts of the country.

Afghan government and NATO relationship have spoiled over the civilian casualties in Afghanistan which is an important issue in fighting the Taliban militants in Afghanistan.

Rahim Aria