US: Airstrikes hit 2 vehicles with militants; Afghans: 22 civilians killed

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The US military said airstrikes by its attack helicopters hit two vehicles carrying insurgents Friday in eastern Afghanistan. The province's governor said 22 civilians, including a woman and a child, were killed. 1st Lt. Nathan Perry, a spokesman for the US-led coalition, said the airstrikes in Nuristan province hit militants who had earlier attacked a US military base with mortars. The helicopters identified the militants' firing positions, tracked them down and destroyed the vehicles that they were traveling in, he said. "These were combatants. These were people who were firing on us," Perry said. "We have no reports of noncombatant injuries." He gave no account of casualties in the vehicles.