KABUL (PAN): President Hamid Karzai has ordered an immediate probe into the killing of 23 civilians in a US-led coalition airstrike on a wedding party in the Haska Mena district of the eastern Nangarhar province.

The president said on Monday he had always insisted on caution in military operations so as to avoid the loss of civilian lives. Karzai was deeply concerned over the latest collateral damage in the second imprecise air raid in less than a week.

A statement from the press office at the Presidential Palace said Karzai had asked Defence and Interior Ministries as well as provincial authorities to provide compensation to the affected families without any delay.

The Afghan leader directed the said ministries and the provincial government to submit to him a detailed report based an investigation of the bombing that came hot on the heels of the death of 17 civilians in a similar coalition raid in the Nuristan province.

On Sunday, officials and residents alleged that a bride was among 23 killed as coalition forces bombarded a wedding party. Twenty-two people died on the spot while one succumbed to his injuries in hospital.

One of the injured wedding guests brought to the Jalalabad Civil Hospital told Pajhwok Afghan News coalition planes dropped a couple of bombs on the procession on its way back to the grooms residence. A number of people were killed and wounded, he said.

Scared survivors ran pell-mell. When dwellers arrived at the scene to shift the injured and collect dead bodies, the US-led forces dropped four more bombs on us, Jamil said while giving an eyewitness account.

mud/pr