Nato bomb 'kills Afghan workers'

A bomb dropped by a Nato plane has killed 12 men working on a road in Afghanistan's north-east, a provincial governor says.

The strike took place in Nuristan province, 180km (112 miles) north-east of the capital, Kabul, said Nuristan governor Tamimi Nuristani.

So far there has been no confirmation or denial by the international forces operating in the country.

Last week Nato said it had changed tactics to lessen civilian casualties.

Our correspondent in Kabul, David Loyn, says the governor of Nuristan told the BBC the incident had taken place on Tuesday.

The mountains of Nuristan are among the highest and most inaccessible in the country, providing smuggling routes across to north-west Pakistan for drugs going out and arms and men coming in, our correspondent adds.

The Taleban have been able to operate there freely in recent years, although there has been heavy fighting during 2007 as US-led forces try to reassert control.

'Tent hit'

Mr Nuristani told AFP news agency: "We had reports that rebels were there.

Nato head Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Nato had changed its tactics

"There was an air strike by coalition forces but later we found out that 12 people, all local road workers, were killed.

"The road workers were in a tent which was hit by one bomb. All died," he said.

The governor said the workers were from an Afghan construction firm.

Last week, Nato head Jaap de Hoop Scheffer had said the organisation was doing all it could to avoid Afghan civilian casualties.

After a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, he said that Nato forces had changed their procedure to reduce the threat to civilians.

Mr Karzai has become more outspoken on the issue under increasing grassroots pressure.

The UN too has expressed alarm at the number of civilians killed by international forces in Afghanistan.

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