Kabul, Afghanistan - Villagers protest deaths of nine Afghan children in NATO bombing

DP-A

Mar 2, 2011 - Kabul - Hundreds of Afghan villagers took to the streets in the south-eastern province of Kunar on Wednesday to protest the killing of nine by a NATO airstrike, officials and residents said.
The demonstrators chanted slogans against the United States and Afghan government as they marched to the centre of Manogai district, site of Tuesday's bombing, local resident Mohammad Anwar Ghazi said.
The protesters called on US forces stationed in the region to leave, and demanded the Afghan government to bring the perpetrators to justice, he said.
District police chief Gul Rahman said that the demonstration was peaceful, and that villagers were simply demanding that the killing of civilians be stopped.
Local officials said Tuesday that the children were collecting firewood on a mountain when they were targeted by a NATO airstrike.
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Tuesday's incident came less than two weeks after 65 people were killed in NATO airstrikes in Ghaziabad district of the same Kunar province.
NATO has claimed all the casualties were armed insurgents, but a team dispatched to the area by Kabul reported that the dead included around 40 children and 10 women.