NATO admitted to the first strike, but termed the slain “associated family members” of the Taliban they were trying to kill, and insisted some Taliban were killed. They have yet to comment on the new strike, though they did say they were investigating a third incident of civilian killings.

The third incident came Wednesday, when NATO air strikes killed a pair of young shepherds in the Ghazni Province. The provincial police chief confirmed that the deaths were the result of a NATO attack, but NATO insisted the attack had killed only one person, an insurgent.

The Khost killings sparked public protests with many hundreds of demonstrators taking part. The Karzai government has recently lashed NATO over civilian casualties, but has yet to respond to the latest incidents.

This article first appeared on Antiwar.com.