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AFGHANISTAN-UNREST
Afghanistan probes civilian casualties in military operation: defence
ministry
KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, July 20, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Afghan authorities are
probing reports that 14 civilians were killed or wounded during a military
operation, the defence ministry said Friday, with several officials saying
women and children were among the victims.
The casualties were caused by an air strike in the northern province of
Kunduz on Thursday, Char Dara district governor Zalmai Farooqi and villagers
told AFP.
Villager Haji Shireen said 13 people, all women or children, were killed
in the air strike that also destroyed some houses in Robat village.
An AFP reporter said he saw 12 bodies when he visited the village on
Thursday.
Kunduz regional hospital head Naeem Mangal said the bodies of 12 women
and children had been brought to the medical facility.
“Women and children were martyred,” Farooqi said, blaming “foreign”
forces for the air strike.
US Forces in Afghanistan did not immediately respond to an AFP request
for comment.
The defence ministry statement did not specify if the casualties were
caused by an air strike.
“A high-ranking military and government delegation has been appointed to
closely investigate the incident,” the statement said.
Kunduz governor spokesman Naimatullah Taimor confirmed an investigative
team had arrived in Char Dara district.
The incident comes days after a UN report showed the number of civilians
killed in the nearly 17-year conflict hit a record high in the first six
months of 2018.
The toll of 1,692 fatalities was one percent more than a year earlier and
the highest for the period since the United Nations Assistance Mission in
Afghanistan (UNAMA) began keeping records in 2009.
Another 3,430 people were wounded in the war, down five percent from the
same period last year, the report said.
Air strikes caused 353 casualties in the six-month period, up 52 percent
on last year. More than half of the civilian casualties were caused by the
Afghan Air Force.
One of the worst incidents was in Kunduz in April, when an Afghan air
strike on an outdoor religious gathering in Dashte Archi killed or wounded
107 people, mostly children, a previous UNAMA report found.
The government and military said it had targeted a Taliban base where
senior members of the group were planning attacks.
Kunduz has been the scene of fierce fighting between Afghan security
forces and the Taliban, which has been resurgent since the withdrawal of NATO
combat forces at the end of 2014.
As many as 40 security forces were killed in a series of Taliban attacks
in Dashte Archi district earlier this month, security sources told AFP
previously.
BSS/AFP/RY/1736 hrs