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Afghan air strike kills dozens
An air assault by foreign-led forces has killed at least 25 Afghan civilians, a provincial police officer has reported.
Twelve members of one family were believed to have been killed in the joint Afghan-foreign forces strike on Helmand province on Thursday night.
Up to 20 Taliban fighters were also among the dead.
A US spokesman said he had no comment on the incident against Taliban forces. Nato, however, said it had carried out the raid after alliance forces came under attack.
Lieutenant-Colonel Mike Smith, a Nato spokesman, said he was concerned about reports of civilian loss of life.
"However, it must be noted that it was insurgents who initiated this attack, and in choosing to conduct such attacks in this location and at the time, the risk to civilians was probably deliberate."
Mohammad Hussein Andiwal, the provincial police chief, said on Friday that fighters had attacked police posts in the south of the country, sparking clashes and the air strikes that left 45 dead.
He said the fighters used civilian houses for cover in Gereshk district of Helmand.
More
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/71BDE8A6-2FEC-4DC6-905D-30351F06977C.htm
Up to 20 Taliban fighters were also among the dead.
A US spokesman said he had no comment on the incident against Taliban forces. Nato, however, said it had carried out the raid after alliance forces came under attack.
Lieutenant-Colonel Mike Smith, a Nato spokesman, said he was concerned about reports of civilian loss of life.
"However, it must be noted that it was insurgents who initiated this attack, and in choosing to conduct such attacks in this location and at the time, the risk to civilians was probably deliberate."
Mohammad Hussein Andiwal, the provincial police chief, said on Friday that fighters had attacked police posts in the south of the country, sparking clashes and the air strikes that left 45 dead.
He said the fighters used civilian houses for cover in Gereshk district of Helmand.
More
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/71BDE8A6-2FEC-4DC6-905D-30351F06977C.htm
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The Nato-led force (Isaf) said a small number of civilians may have been killed, possibly by insurgents.
President Hamid Karzai told the BBC this week that civilian deaths caused by foreign forces would have to stop.
If not, Mr Karzai warned that Afghans might turn against those countries with a military presence in Afghanistan.
He added, however, that people were still grateful for that involvement.
'No consultation'
Speaking to the BBC's correspondent in southern Afghanistan, people from the village of De Adam Khan, near the town of Gereshk in Helmand, said heavy bombings of the area had resulted in the civilian deaths.
More
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6229422.stm
Some Taliban militants ambushed a convoy of foreign troops in Gereshk district at 1:30 a.m. local time, Andiwal said.
The troops requested air support, which dropped several bombs and caused the casualties, he said, adding among the civilians there were nine women and three children.
Meanwhile, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said it had carried out the air strike in Gereshk.
In a latest statement, ISAF said its soldiers killed nearly 30 militants and may have caused some civilian casualties in the engagement.
ISAF forces were attacked by insurgents first, and responded with small arms fire and an air strike, the statement said.
"A compound was assessed to have been occupied by up to 30 insurgent fighters, most of whom were killed in the engagement," it added.
More
http://english.people.com.cn/200706/22/eng20070622_386848.html
"The NATO forces' air strike on the area mistakenly targeted two to three civilian houses, killing 25 civilians," Helmand provincial police chief Colonel Mohammad Hassan told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Al-Jazeera satellite channel, however, said that nearly 30 civilians were killed in the NATO attack in Girishk district, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the town of Lashkar Gah in Helmand province.
Nine women and three children aged from six months to two years were among those killed in the strike.
"Nine women and three children have been killed in one family in the bombardment," provincial police chief Hussien Andiwal told Reuters.
The rest were men, including the imam of the mosque in the village.
Hassan said the bodies of the dead were lying where they had been hit.
He said that 20 Taliban were also reported killed in the NATO strike which came after an attack on an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)'s convoy in the village.
There has been a steady rise in the killing of Afghan civilians, including women and children, by US-led NATO troops in Afghanistan.
Up to 380 civilians were killed in surging violence in the first four months of this year, according to the United Nations.
At least seven Afghan children were killed in a US air strike in eastern Afghanistan late Sunday, June 18.
Up to 230 Afghan civilians have been killed by foreign troops only this year.
Human Rights Watch says around 1,000 civilians were killed last year in spiraling violence in Afghanistan.
The rising civilian casualties have triggered a series of protests demanding the expulsion of US forces and the resignation of President Hamid Karzai.
NATO Admission
NATO troops confirmed that it called in air support after an attack on ISAF convoy in Helmand province.
It said that it was investigating reports of a "small number" of civilian casualties.
ISAF said the NATO strike targeted a compound where up to 30 "insurgents" were holed up.
It said that most of the insurgents were killed in the strike while only one ISAF soldier was injured in the area.
A spokesman for Taliban confirmed that the group had ambushed foreign troops in the area.
"Taliban left the area before the air strike," added the spokesman.
Resentment has also been simmering over the aggressive practices of the trigger-happy foreign soldiers in the war-torn country.
Aggressive soldiers in bullet-proofed convoys regularly force traffic off the roads.
They also burst into homes in the middle of the night to conduct searches despite repeated calls for respect of Afghan sensibilities.
Analysts have warned that the indiscriminate killing of civilians is turning ordinary Afghans against foreign troops and eroding fragile public support for Karzai's government.