NATO airstrike kills 3 Afghan boys

Three Afghan boys were killed by a NATO airstrike in southern Afghanistan, while Taliban killed three civilians in the south-central region, officials said Monday. “The NATO air force identified and targeted two insurgents planting mines on a road in Nawa district of Helmand province Sunday evening. Three children collecting firewood in the bushes nearby were also killed,” provincial police spokesman Ahmad Farid Farhang said. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed the strike but said three insurgents were killed. “We can confirm that ISAF conducted a precision strike on three insurgents in Nahay-e-Barakzay (also called Nawa) district, Helmand province yesterday, killing all three,” spokeswoman Lori Hodge told dpa in an email. Hodge said the coalition was looking into news reports of civilian casualties.