Sixty-five civilians, including about forty children, were killed by NATO forces in mid-February in Kunar province, eastern Afghanistan, according to revised figures provided Sunday by a fact-finding mission appointed by President Hamid Karzai.
A total of 21 boys, 19 girls, 10 women and 15 adult men were killed in the series of operations conducted by NATO forces in Kunar province, said the mission in a statement quoted by the Afghan presidency.
Mr.Karzai ordered the government officials responsible for security to raise this issue with international forces, add services without more details.
In response, the spokesman for the NATO force in Afghanistan (ISAF), Lieutenant Colonel John Dorrian, said he was "deeply sorry" for "civilian casualties that could have resulted from this operation."
But he disputed the outcome of the fact-finding mission, saying only five to seven civilians may have been injured.Investigations into this matter were continuing, he added.
On Thursday, the inquiry commission announced that 62 civilians had been killed in these operations in the district of Ghaziabad.
On 20 February, President Karzai, saying relying on information from the Afghan intelligence service (NDS), has said that ISAF had killed "50 civilians" during several days of operations in Kunar.
The international force, consisting of about 132,000 soldiers to two-thirds American, is regularly accused by the authorities of killing civilians in its air operations and ground against insurgents, which she admits sometimes after investigation.
The death of these civilians builds resentment of the population against foreign forces, more than nine years after their arrival in the country.
Civilians bear the brunt of the Afghan conflict. At least 2,400 were killed in 2010 by the Afghan NGO (ARM Afghan Rights Monitor) and 3,200 were injured.
