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U.S. Pledges To Investigate Afghan Air Strike Casualty Reports


Chairman of the U.S. Joints Chief of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey
Chairman of the U.S. Joints Chief of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey
WASHINGTON -- The United States has pledged to investigate a June 6 NATO air strike in Afghanistan and take "appropriate actions" amid Afghan accounts that as many as 18 civilians were killed.

General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said two civilians had come forward to say they were wounded in the Logar Province strike but that an initial sweep did not find any other civilian casualties.

Dempsey told reporters, "We do our very best to avoid civilian casualties and so this investigation will try to determine if there were civilian casualties."

A NATO spokesman also said they were investigating, but had not yet received reports of civilian deaths from the strike, which targeted Taliban militants.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has called the incident "unacceptable."

With reporting by AFP and AP
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