"A little patience" on the part of the US forces could have prevented the 18 civilians mistakenly killed by airstrike in Logar this week, Presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi said on Saturday.

He blamed the US forces who were engaged in a joint operation with Afghan forces for taking a unilateral decision to strike the homes in Logar's Baraki Barak district, killing 18 innocent people, including women and children.

"A little patience could have prevented the killing of civilians and it could have been a successful operation. But unfortunately, there was a unilateral decision taken by the US forces to bombard the house," Faizi told TOLOnews.

The airstrike carried out on Wednesday was reported by Isaf on the day, but no mention of civilian casualties was made. Instead, Isaf said that a number of militants were killed. It has since acknowledged the deaths with the Isaf commander General John Allen visiting the province to express his regrets and pledge Isaf's support for the families of the victims.

The attack received widespread condemnation..

And Taliban have announced three days mourn and ordered the schools in Baraki Barak to be closed for 3 days. and schools closed after the announcement. 

Some officials said that in a meeting at the Presidential Palace, it was declared that the continuation of such attacks would be considered the equivalent of an invasion into Afghanistan and that it went against the Afghanistan-US strategic agreement signed on May 2.

UNAMA released a statement on Thursday condemning the Logar airstrike along with the three other incidents which had killed civilians on Wednesday..

Specifically referring to Logar, it said that UNAMA has "repeatedly expressed concern that aerial operations have resulted in more civilian deaths and injuries than any other tactic used by Pro-Government Forces since the present armed conflict began. Unfortunately, the incident in Logar on 6 June reinforces this trend."

And on Sunday a NATO soldier was killed in a Taliban attack in southern Afghanistan, the alliance said.

Meanwhile, NATO forces claimed that in a predawn raid in eastern Nangarhar province eight Taliban militants were killed.

And French defence minister, scheduled to arrive in Kabul today after four/six French soldiers were killed in a Taliban attack, is expected to reaffirm troop departure from Afghanistan next month.

Source: TOLO News & Agencies