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Add an EventAfghan workers die in US-led attack
The attack took place in the
mountainous province of Nuristan
At least 12 Afghan road construction workers have been killed in an air strike by the US-led forces in Afghanistan, a provincial governor has said.
Another local official said that up to 25 men were killed in the attack late on Tuesday in the province of Nuristan, northeast of Kabul.
"We had reports that rebels were there," Tamimi Nuristani, the governor of Nuristan, told the AFP news agency.
"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 labourers had been building a road for the US military and were sleeping in a tent in the remote area when they were killed, according to Sayed Noorullah Jalili, the director of the Kabul-based road construction company, Amerifa.
There were no survivors, he said.
The media office of the US-led coalition forces said it was trying to find out what happened.
"Something happened but we are not sure exactly what," Chris Belcher, a spokesman, said.
The province's police chief said he was trying to verify the incident.
Read MoreThe 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.
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.
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