KABUL, Afghanistan — A roadside bomb killed three U.S. coalition soldiers Tuesday, while a NATO airstrike missed its target and hit a house, killing two Afghan civilians and wounding 10, officials said.
The coalition said a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan killed the three soldiers and an Afghan contractor.
It did not release any other details of the attack, including the soldiers’ nationalities, but the overwhelming majority of coalition soldiers in the east are American.
A NATO bomb, meanwhile, missed its target and instead hit a house in the east, killing two civilians and wounding 10 others Tuesday, the alliance said. The bomb’s target was a spot used by insurgents to fire rockets.
The incident comes at a time of rising tension between the Afghan government and international troops over the use of airstrikes. The government says U.S. strikes killed 90 civilians in the village of Azizabad on Aug. 22. The U.S. has said up to seven civilians were killed but is reinvestigating the incident after video images of victims came to light.
NATO said its weapon malfunctioned Tuesday and missed its target by more than 1.5 miles (2.5 kilometers) in the eastern Khost province.
‘‘An immediate investigation into the cause of the incident has been launched and further details will be forthcoming once established,’’ the statement said.
Because of Afghanistan’s mountainous terrain and few roads, U.S. and other foreign forces rely heavily on the use of airpower in their fight against Taliban and al-Qaida fighters.
But the use of airstrikes in civilian areas have been blamed for a series of civilian deaths, which caused President Hamid Karzai to ask for a review of the use of U.S. and NATO air power.
Afghan and U.N. officials say some 90 civilians were killed in a U.S. special forces operation in the western Herat province on Aug. 22.
A U.S. military investigation found that seven civilians were killed, but after a number of videos of victims surfaced last week, Gen. David D. McKiernan, the top NATO commander in Afghanistan, ordered a review of those findings.
Meanwhile, two separate airstrikes in Afghanistan’s south and east killed more than 27 militants, including Chechen fighters, Afghan officials said Tuesday.
Authorities clashed with Taliban fighters and requested airstrikes from foreign troops in the southern Uruzgan province on Tuesday, which killed 15 militants, said provincial police chief Juma Gul Himat.
Two Taliban fighters were wounded, Himat said. Authorities recovered the bodies of dead militants, he said.
In the eastern Paktika province, meanwhile, another airstrike hit a group of foreign fighters and killed 12 militants, including nine Chechen fighters, said Ruhulla Samon, the spokesman for the provincial governor.
There were no casualties among Afghan forces in either clash.
Afghan and Western officials have warned that higher numbers of foreign militants have joined the fight inside Afghanistan, which is seeing record levels of violence nearly seven years after a U.S.-led invasion drove the fundamentalist Taliban from power over its sheltering of the al-Qaida terrorist network.
In the southern Kandahar province, meanwhile, a roadside bomb hit an Afghan army vehicle, killing one soldier and wounding four others, said Gul Agha Naibi, an Afghan Army officer.
More than 4,000 people have died in insurgency-related violence this year, according to an Associated Press tally of figures from Western and Afghan officials.
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Associated Press reporters Fisnik Abrashi in Kabul and Noor Khan in Kandahar contributed to this report.
The coalition said a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan killed the three soldiers and an Afghan contractor.
It did not release any other details of the attack, including the soldiers’ nationalities, but the overwhelming majority of coalition soldiers in the east are American.
A NATO bomb, meanwhile, missed its target and instead hit a house in the east, killing two civilians and wounding 10 others Tuesday, the alliance said. The bomb’s target was a spot used by insurgents to fire rockets.
The incident comes at a time of rising tension between the Afghan government and international troops over the use of airstrikes. The government says U.S. strikes killed 90 civilians in the village of Azizabad on Aug. 22. The U.S. has said up to seven civilians were killed but is reinvestigating the incident after video images of victims came to light.
NATO said its weapon malfunctioned Tuesday and missed its target by more than 1.5 miles (2.5 kilometers) in the eastern Khost province.
‘‘An immediate investigation into the cause of the incident has been launched and further details will be forthcoming once established,’’ the statement said.
Because of Afghanistan’s mountainous terrain and few roads, U.S. and other foreign forces rely heavily on the use of airpower in their fight against Taliban and al-Qaida fighters.
But the use of airstrikes in civilian areas have been blamed for a series of civilian deaths, which caused President Hamid Karzai to ask for a review of the use of U.S. and NATO air power.
Afghan and U.N. officials say some 90 civilians were killed in a U.S. special forces operation in the western Herat province on Aug. 22.
A U.S. military investigation found that seven civilians were killed, but after a number of videos of victims surfaced last week, Gen. David D. McKiernan, the top NATO commander in Afghanistan, ordered a review of those findings.
Meanwhile, two separate airstrikes in Afghanistan’s south and east killed more than 27 militants, including Chechen fighters, Afghan officials said Tuesday.
Authorities clashed with Taliban fighters and requested airstrikes from foreign troops in the southern Uruzgan province on Tuesday, which killed 15 militants, said provincial police chief Juma Gul Himat.
Two Taliban fighters were wounded, Himat said. Authorities recovered the bodies of dead militants, he said.
In the eastern Paktika province, meanwhile, another airstrike hit a group of foreign fighters and killed 12 militants, including nine Chechen fighters, said Ruhulla Samon, the spokesman for the provincial governor.
There were no casualties among Afghan forces in either clash.
Afghan and Western officials have warned that higher numbers of foreign militants have joined the fight inside Afghanistan, which is seeing record levels of violence nearly seven years after a U.S.-led invasion drove the fundamentalist Taliban from power over its sheltering of the al-Qaida terrorist network.
In the southern Kandahar province, meanwhile, a roadside bomb hit an Afghan army vehicle, killing one soldier and wounding four others, said Gul Agha Naibi, an Afghan Army officer.
More than 4,000 people have died in insurgency-related violence this year, according to an Associated Press tally of figures from Western and Afghan officials.
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Associated Press reporters Fisnik Abrashi in Kabul and Noor Khan in Kandahar contributed to this report.