A NATO airstrike in Afghanistan reportedly killed 15 people including women and children on Saturday.

NATO spokeswoman, 1st Lt. AnnMarie Annicelli, said that she had not received any reports of civilians being killed in the strike. However, Kunar province police chief Abdul Habib Sayed Khaili stated, “At least four women, four children and two civilian drivers were killed in a NATO airstrike in [the] Wattapur district of Kunar province.” He then went on to say, “I can confirm that four armed insurgents belonging to Al Qaida were also killed in the airstrike.”

The Taliban are strong in the eastern province in which the strike took place; Khaili said that a pickup truck was hit yesterday evening right after three Arab and three Afghan militants loaded into the vehicle.

Violence in the area has been on a steady upward climb in recent years; nearly 1,000 civilians were killed and 2,000 injured in the first six months of 2013.

Image courtesy The U.S. Army via Wikimedia Commons.