U.S. airstrike kills 22 Afghan workers

KABUL, Afghanistan, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- A U.S. airstrike in eastern Afghanistan Wednesday killed 22 Afghan civilian road construction workers working on a U.S. military contract.

The men were killed as they slept in two large tents in a remote area of the mountainous province of Nuristan, Alalam Satellite TV reported.

They were employed by the Kabul company, Amerifa, which is under contract to supply engineers and laborers to build the road, company director Sayed Noorullah Jalili told reporters.

He said the strike could only have been based on flawed intelligence.

"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.''

Nuristan Gov. Tamim Nuristani said U.S. intelligence had been told "the enemy" was in the area, which is why the tents were targeted, the report said.