Three civilians killed, four injured in Afghan Wardak province

Maidan Shar (Afghanistan), April 26 (Xinhua-ANI): Three civilians were killed and four other women injured Thursday when a mortar hit a house following a clash between Taliban and NATO-led forces in Afghan Wardak province, 35 km west of capital Kabul, the provincial government said.

"A military unit of NATO-led forces was on a regular patrol in Dawran Khil area of Chak-i- Wardak district at about 12:00 p.m. local time today but an unknown number of armed anti-government militants attacked the unit triggering a clash lasting for a while, " the provincial government said in a press release.

The release said that during the clash a mortar round hit a civilian house in the area leaving three women dead and four others injured.

The injured women were transported by Afghan army ambulances to a hospital in Kabul, the release said, adding "So far it has not been clear which side fired the mortar but the government has initiated a thorough investigation into the incident."

The number of civilian casualties has been soaring in Afghanistan as a total of 3,021 Afghan civilians have been killed in 2011, an 8 percent rise in non-combatants' deaths compared with 2010, according to the United Nations annual report released in Kabul in February.

The UN report attributed 77 percent of the civilian deaths last year to the attacks of Taliban insurgents and other armed groups opposing the Afghan government.

Another 14 percent of the deaths were attributed to Afghan and NATO-led forces and 9 percent were unattributed. (Xinhua-ANI)