US helicopter attacks against the Helmand Province were reported to have killed dozens of civilians. NATO shrugged this report off, saying that the US hit a building that was “a fighting position.”

The UN confirmed on Friday that the US attack indeed killed 23 civilians, including eight women and 10 children. They also cited a local who said that the building in question was near some Taliban fighters, but this could not be confirmed.

This only adds to the number of civilians killed by the US in attacks against populated areas. In the Helmand Province, the Taliban controls much of the territory, though the US-backed still controls the provincial capital.

The US has greatly escalated the number of airstrikes against Taliban targets across the country, and it is unsurprising that the record number of strikes also means a precipitous rise in the number of civilians being killed.