At least 14 civilians dead in airstrike in northern Afghanistan

At least 14 civilians including women and children were killed in an Afghan-US aerial operation in northern Kunduz province, officials said Friday.

Two other civilians were wounded in the strike, which took place in Char Dara district of the province, Ministry of Defence spokesman Mohammad Radmanish said.At least three residential houses were destroyed in the attack, a spokesman for the governor of Kunduz, Enaamuddin Rahmani, and provincial council member Aminullah Ayiddin said.On April, an Afghan airstrike on a religious school in the Dasht-e-Archi district of Kunduz left at least 50 people dead, including civilians.Military operations by both Afghan and insurgent groups in Afghanistan have intensified in recent months, with civilian casualties hitting a new record in 2018, according to UN data.According to the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), 1,692 civilians were killed between January 1 and June 30 - the highest figure reported for that period over the last nine years.Separately, at least 12 police officers were killed after Taliban militants stormed a checkpoint in Imam Saheb district of Kunduz, a provincial council member said. A police chief for the district put the casualties at six dead and five injured.