Airstrike reportedly kills 22 Afghan workers

U.S.-led coalition troops killed 22 road construction workers with airstrikes in eastern Afghanistan because of mistaken intelligence reports, Afghan officials said today.

The coalition said it was looking into the incident.

The engineers and laborers had been building a road for the U.S. military in mountainous Nuristan province, and were sleeping in two tents in the remote area when they were killed Monday night, said Sayed Noorullah Jalili, director of the Amerifa road construction company, based in Kabul, the capital. There were no survivors, he said.

“All of our poor workers have been killed,” Jalili said. “I don’t think the Americans were targeting our people. I’m sure it’s the enemy of the Afghans who gave the Americans this wrong information.”

The company has requested that the U.S. military investigate the source of its information, Jalili said.

Nuristan Gov. Tamim Nuristani said the coalition conducted airstrikes after receiving reports that “the enemy” was in the area. Afghan officials often refer to the Taliban and other militants as “the enemy.”