Karzai claims 18 people killed in NATO airstrike were all civilians
Source: Agencies |
June 8, 2012, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE Afghan president said yesterday that 18 people killed in a NATO airstrike in eastern Afghanistan a day earlier were all civilians.
The deadly incident has further soured relations between NATO and the Afghan government, already outraged by civilian casualties in previous operations.
Wednesday was the deadliest day for civilians in Afghanistan so far this year, with at least 40 people killed, the United Nations said. In the largest attack, a trio of suicide bombers killed 22 people in the busy marketplace of Kandahar City.
NATO has so far said it has no records of civilian deaths from the pre-dawn strike on a house in Logar Province. The NATO and Afghan troops were going after a local Taliban leader when the international coalition says they came under fire and called in an airstrike on Wednesday.
"This is unacceptable. It cannot be tolerated," President Hamid Karzai said in a statement condemning the strike in Logar. He criticized NATO for not being able to provide an explanation for the vans piled with bodies of women and children that villagers displayed to reporters. Karzai's office said the president had spoken to a man who was related to some of the victims. He promised a thorough investigation and pledged that those responsible would face justice.
Karzai's condemnation of the strike and NATO's treatment of it served as a reminder of the ongoing tension between Afghanistan and its Western allies. It came as United States Defense Secretary Leon Panetta visited Kabul.
NATO confirmed only militant deaths from Wednesday's strike but sent a team to investigate allegations that civilians were killed either along with or instead of insurgents.
"The reason this team has been dispatched down there is because there is such a discrepancy between what our operational reporting indicates and what Afghan officials on the ground are saying happened," said Major Martyn Crighton, a spokesman for the NATO force in Afghanistan.
Villagers displayed 18 bodies in the provincial capital on Wednesday - five women, seven children and six men. Afghan officials said then that some or all of the dead men were militants. Since no government officials have visited the site of the attack, it was not clear if there might be additional dead.
Karzai said in the statement that he was cutting short his trip to China because of the attacks in Logar and Kandahar. He was expected back in Kabul today, said Syamak Herawi, a spokesman for the president.
Nighttime raids on militants taking cover in villages have been a source of strain between the Afghan government, which says the raids put civilians in the crossfire, and its international allies, who say such operations are key to capturing and killing insurgent leaders.
The deadly incident has further soured relations between NATO and the Afghan government, already outraged by civilian casualties in previous operations.
Wednesday was the deadliest day for civilians in Afghanistan so far this year, with at least 40 people killed, the United Nations said. In the largest attack, a trio of suicide bombers killed 22 people in the busy marketplace of Kandahar City.
NATO has so far said it has no records of civilian deaths from the pre-dawn strike on a house in Logar Province. The NATO and Afghan troops were going after a local Taliban leader when the international coalition says they came under fire and called in an airstrike on Wednesday.
"This is unacceptable. It cannot be tolerated," President Hamid Karzai said in a statement condemning the strike in Logar. He criticized NATO for not being able to provide an explanation for the vans piled with bodies of women and children that villagers displayed to reporters. Karzai's office said the president had spoken to a man who was related to some of the victims. He promised a thorough investigation and pledged that those responsible would face justice.
Karzai's condemnation of the strike and NATO's treatment of it served as a reminder of the ongoing tension between Afghanistan and its Western allies. It came as United States Defense Secretary Leon Panetta visited Kabul.
NATO confirmed only militant deaths from Wednesday's strike but sent a team to investigate allegations that civilians were killed either along with or instead of insurgents.
"The reason this team has been dispatched down there is because there is such a discrepancy between what our operational reporting indicates and what Afghan officials on the ground are saying happened," said Major Martyn Crighton, a spokesman for the NATO force in Afghanistan.
Villagers displayed 18 bodies in the provincial capital on Wednesday - five women, seven children and six men. Afghan officials said then that some or all of the dead men were militants. Since no government officials have visited the site of the attack, it was not clear if there might be additional dead.
Karzai said in the statement that he was cutting short his trip to China because of the attacks in Logar and Kandahar. He was expected back in Kabul today, said Syamak Herawi, a spokesman for the president.
Nighttime raids on militants taking cover in villages have been a source of strain between the Afghan government, which says the raids put civilians in the crossfire, and its international allies, who say such operations are key to capturing and killing insurgent leaders.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
