A NATO airstrike in southern Kandahar Province's Zhari district killed up to nine civilians and wounded at least nine others today.
Governor Asadullah Khalid says an unknown number of Taliban militants also died. NATO admits the operation is believed to have caused civilian casualties.
In southern Helmand Province, unconfirmed reports say 13 villagers died when a rocket hit a house during a nighttime clash between suspected Taliban insurgents and NATO and Afghan forces.
Provincial police chief Ghulam Nabi Malakhel says he cannot say whose rocket hit the home in Tajikai village. He also says at least one Taliban militant was killed and three police wounded in the fighting.
In northeastern Nuristan Province, NATO says its troops backed by warplanes killed as many as 14 militants near the Pakistani border on October 17.
(AP, AFP)
RFE/RL Afghanistan Report
SUBSCRIBE For regular news and analysis on Afghanistan by e-mail, subscribe to "RFE/RL Afghanistan Report."