Disturbance in Afghanistan continues, this time taking a death toll of more than 100 people in an air raid by US Air force that brought devastations to Afghan homes, where the Taliban soldiers sought shelters. Two Afghan officers confirmed the news.
NATO’s International Security Assistance Force has admitted that some of the civilians have been killed in the said territory but the death toll is not as severe as the Afghan officials claimed. An investigation team has been sent to Helmand province’s Gereshk district where the actual incident took place, Dur Ali Shah, the mayor of Gereshk confirmed.
In the words of Mohammed Hussein, the provisional police chief, Holmand:
The battle on Friday began when Taliban fighters tried to ambush a joint U.S.-Afghan military convoy, then fled to Hyderabad village for cover. Air strikes then targeted the militants in the village.
There has been a fair amount of controversy over the number of dead bodies found, and about the death of civilians in that air raid. Because of the remote location of the place, it is literally impossible to find out the exact number of casualties. But there are a lot of speculations that near about 50-60 civilians have been killed along with 35 Talibans.
However, Major John Thomas, a spoke person for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force said the military has no information to corroborate numbers that large. NATO will never fire on positions if it knew civilians were nearby.
He said:
It’s the enemy fighters who willingly fire when civilians are standing right next to them
The entire incident has a terrific effect on Afghan minds. Infuriated Afghans are shell shocked on how this kind of behavior can be tolerated. President Hamid Karzai has come out with strong reaction and accused the forces for viewing Afghan lives as “cheap”. The act of Taliban soldiers by involving civilians as human shield also could not escape his frustration.
Maj. Chris Belcher, a coalition spokesman, said:
It appears that ANA (Afghan National Army) and coalition forces fired at clearly identified firing positions. Remains of some people who apparently were civilians were found among insurgent fighters who were killed in firing positions in a trench line
A devastated local resident Mohammad Khan said the air strike killed seven members of his family, including his brother and five of his brother’s children. Villagers were burying a lot of dead bodies Saturday. This event has created terrible unrest in the remote part of Afghanistan. This is high time the authorities should try to solve the internal matters. Afghan officials said fighter jets and armed forces were still patrolling the area and the fighting continued till late Saturday.
