Nato-Led Airstrike Kills 12 Afghan Children

Twelve children and two women have been killed in a Nato airstrike in Afghanistan, according to local officials.

The tragedy happened in Nawzad district in southwest Helmand province late on Saturday.

Dawood Ahmadi, a spokesman for the provincial government, said Nato was targeting insurgents but instead struck two homes, killing two women, five girls and seven boys.

Some of the children were under two years old. A further six people were reportedly injured in the bombardment.

Distraught father Noor Agha said: "My house was bombarded in the middle of the night and my children were killed. The Taliban were far away from my home, why was my house bombed?"

The strike apparently followed an attack by militants on a US Marine base in Nawzad earlier on Saturday.

The deaths have bene condemned by Afghan president Hamid Karzai who said he had warned US and Nato troops that their "arbitrary operations" were killing innocent people every day.

He said in a statement the incident was "a big mistake".

It shows that attention is not being paid," he added.

:: Afghan and Nato-led troops killed one woman and detained several suspected insurgents during a raid on a compound in the Musa Khel district of eastern Khost province on Saturday.

The woman was armed with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher when she was engaged by the Afghan and ISAF troops and killed, the coalition said in a statement.