Hamid Karzai shortens China visit over Nato air strike deaths

Source: The Guardian

Hamid Karzai is cutting short an official visit to China following reports of civilian deaths in a Nato air strike in south-east Afghanistan and an insurgent bombing in the south, the Afghan presidential palace has said.

Karzai said 18 civilians were killed in a pre-dawn air strike in Logar province on Wednesday. The Nato-led international security assistance force said it was investigating.

"A Nato air strike in which civilian lives are lost and property damaged does not have any justification," Karzai said. "It is not acceptable."

A pair of suicide bombers also struck outside a major Nato base in the southern city of Kandahar on Wednesday, killing at least 20 people and wounding 50 in one of the bloodiest attacks in days.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/07/hamid-karzai-china-nato-strike-deaths