Afghan President Hamid Karzai is "extremely saddened and distressed" by the deaths of up to 17 civilians in a US air strike and the government wants coalition forces to change their strategies, his spokesman said Tuesday. The Afghan government has launched its own probe into last Friday's bombing of Chichal village in the rebel-infested eastern province of Kunar, presidential spokesman Jawed Ludin told reporters in Kabul.
"The president is extremely saddened and distressed to hear the report that recent military operations in Kunar by the coalition forces resulted in the death of civilians," Ludin said.
"We are now investigating to find out exactly what happened, how many have suffered and what caused that suffering," he added.
"We cannot explain to our own people that they should suffer in our fight against terrorism. Terrorists are killing them and they also suffer from our operations, that is a very sad situation."
On Monday the governor of Kunar province said that 17 people, including women and children, died in the air strike.
The US military expressed regret but did not specify the number of civilian deaths. It said American forces struck a "terrorist compound", leading to the deaths of an unknown number of "enemy terrorists" and non-combatants.
Ludin said that the government of Afghanistan wanted coalition forces to change their operational strategies to prevent further tragedies.
"Together with our coalition partners, the government of Afghanistan would like to emphasise that we do need to rethink some of our strategies, especially those that can produce tragic results like the death of civilians," he added.
The bombing came amid a mission to rescue a team of four elite US Navy SEALS, who went missing after a helicopter sent in to extract them was shot down. Sixteen US troops died in the crash.
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