US air strike reportedly kills 13 Afghan civilians

ISIL fighters were the target of an air raid that allegedly killed at least 13 civilians in Achin district.

At least 13 civilians have been killed in a US air strike targeting ISIL that hit a residential house in eastern Nangarhar province, an Afghan official says.
Esmatullah Shinwari, a Nangarhar politician, said on Wednesday that a crowd had gathered at the house in Achin district to welcome home a tribal leader returning from the Hajj.
He said at least six fighters loyal to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) were killed in the incident. According to Shinwari, 12 more people were wounded, including the tribal leader.
Mohammad Ali, the police chief of Achin, gave a different death toll to the AFP news agency, saying three civilians and 15 fighters were killed in the attack.
Hazrat Hussain Mashreqiwal, spokesman for the provincial police chief, said ISIL loyalists were the target. Afghan forces backed by the US military have battled ISIL fighters in Achin for months.

Since the Taliban was ousted from power following the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the armed group's control over parts of Afghanistan has fluctuated widely.
According to a recent report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), the Western-backed Afghan government has lost control of nearly 5 percent of its territory to the Taliban since the beginning of this year.
The report says the area under Afghan government "control or influence" decreased to 65.6 percent by the end of May from 70.5 percent last year, based on data provided by US forces in Afghanistan.
That amounts to a loss of 19 of the country's approximately 400 governing districts.
However, the commander of US forces in Afghanistan, Army General John Nicholson, said the Taliban presence is mostly in rural areas. Afghan officials, on the other hand, say an exact figure on areas controlled cannot be measured as the fight against the Taliban and other armed groups is still ongoing.
Based on reports gathered by Al Jazeera from local police, security forces and the Taliban, here is a conservative estimate of the areas in Afghanistan that are contested, under the Taliban, and under government forces.