Row over raid victims leads to joint inquiry

Source: Agencies | January 25, 2009, Sunday |

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THE US coalition in Afghanistan opened an investigation into an overnight raid that American commanders say killed 15 armed militants early yesterday but that two Afghan officials say killed 11 civilians.

A detailed US statement said multiple teams of militants fired on the coalition forces during a raid against a Taliban commander in the eastern province of Laghman. The statement said a woman carrying a rocket-propelled grenade was among the 15 killed.

"We know the people who were killed were shooting at us," said Colonel Greg Julian, the top US spokesman in Afghanistan. "The people who were killed today were running around, maneuvering against our forces, and we killed them."

But Sayed Ahmad Safi, the spokesman for Laghman's governor, said that government intelligence reports indicated 11 of the dead were civilians, including three children and two females. Two were militants, he said.

Abdul Khaliq Hussaini, a member of parliament who represents Laghman, said he believed 16 people had been killed, including 11 civilians. The site of the raid, the village of Guloch, lies 60 kilometers northeast of the capital, Kabul.

Julian said a joint US-Afghan investigation had been launched.

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Row over raid victims leads to joint inquiry

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