At least nine civilians have been killed in a NATO bombing of a southern village in Afghanistan. The attacked occurred early Wednesday morning while the victims were asleep in their homes.

Eyewitness Wakeel Ahmad: “Around 2:00 am a plane bombed our houses here, you see that it is a residential area. 16 people were killed — women, children and men and another 21 people wounded. After the bomb the foreign soldiers came here and shot dead two wounded residents here. We don’t know why.”

NATO says it was aiming at Taliban hideouts.