Family of eight killed in Afghan air strike

NATO has started an investigation after a family of eight — including six children — were killed in an air strike in Afghanistan, according to local officials.

President Hamid Karzai ordered his own inquiry into the incident, after the governor of the eastern Paktia province complained the air strike had been conducted without consulting Afghan forces.

A coalition spokesperson confirmed American troops in the area had been in a fire fight at the time and had called in an air strike from a jet.

Civilian deaths from Nato operations are a source of deep strain in relations between Hamid Karzai and his foreign allies and have turned many Afghans against the coalition.

Rohullah Samoon, spokesperson for the governor of Paktia, said the air strike hit a house in a village called Suri Kheyl, Gerda Seri district, at around 8pm on Saturday evening.

A man called Mohammad Shafi, his wife and their six children were all killed in the blast. "He was not in the Taliban, he had no links to the Taliban, he was just a local man," Samoon said.

A spokesperson for the coalition said troops had been attacked by a "large group of insurgents". He said: "They did request and receive close air support from a fixed-wing aircraft. Coalition officials are working to determine if those troops in contact and that close air support mission are related to the claims coming from Paktia."