Afghans protest in Mozar-i-Sharif against the civilian deaths resulting from US/NATO military operations inside the country. The death toll for the imperialist forces has escalated despite a troops surge.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
AFP
JALALABAD--A NATO strike in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar killed at least 12 civilians, an official told AFP, leading President Hamid Karzai to institute a probe into the incident.
"Coalition forces had an operation last night. In one place, Nakrkhail village, they hit one vehicle and killed 12 civilians," said Mohammad Hassan, district chief of Khogyani district in Nangarhar.
"In another place, Hashimkhail village, they launched an operation on some houses and 14 people were killed. It’s not clear how many of them are civilians or Taliban. There are some civilians among them," Hassan said.
NATO’s International Security Assistance Force said it had operated in the area on Wednesday and was "aware of civilian casualty allegations as a result of these operations and is conducting an investigation".
But it was unclear if the official and ISAF were referring to the same area as the coalition, which in the emailed statement, gave details of its operations in the neighbouring district of Sherzad.
In Sherzad, ISAF said coalition forces had approached a compound to search for a Taliban commander and were engaged in a firefight from three locations that led to the deaths of "several" insurgents.
Once the gun battle was over, the ground troops left the area while a team of soldiers in a helicopter above continued shooting to cover them, ISAF said.
President Karzai, who has urged Afghan and international forces to minimise civilian casualties, immediately ordered Afghan authorities to investigate, a statement from his office said.
It said that eyewitnesses and local officials had reported that an unknown number of civilians had been killed by a rocket explosion during clashes between NATO and insurgent forces in the Hashimkhail area.
"The president who’s currently in Iran is saddened over possible civilian casualties . . . and has ordered relevant authorities to urgenly and broadly investigate this incident," the statement said.
On Wednesday, nine civilians travelling to collect voting cards were killed in volatile southern Helmand province when their vehicle struck an insurgent-placed roadside bomb, Karzai’s office said.
Karzai "strongly condemned" the Taliban attack. — AFP.
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