• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

NATO air strikes kill 17 Afghan civilians

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Kabul, Oct 18, IRNA

Afghanistan-Civilian Deaths

With public anger running high over civilian deaths in air strikes by Western troops, Afghan officials said Friday that at least 17 civilians had been killed in NATO air strikes on southern Afghanistan.

The NATO-led force said in a statement that it was investigating the reports but that there was no evidence so far that any noncombatants had been killed in clashes during the previous two days in Helmand province.

Western military officials confirmed, however, that an airstrike had been carried out in the area.

Details on the reported deaths were emerging slowly -- a common occurrence in remote areas with poor communications, where many of the suspected areas are being bombed by the Western forces.

Fighting has also been heavy in eastern Afghanistan, where most of the American troops in the country serve. Regional officials in Kunar province said Friday that 18 insurgents were killed in fighting in the previous 24 hours.

In Helmand province, local officials said the civilian deaths occurred in an airstrike Thursday in the Nad Ali district, which was briefly overrun last week by Taliban fighters, then retaken by Western forces.

Helmand is a key battleground in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's fight against the insurgents.

It produces the majority of the world's opium and is the base for a major concentration of Taliban fighters.

About 8,000 British troops are stationed in the province, but Helmand's size forces them to deploy thinly in some areas.

Civilian deaths have contributed to the growing unpopularity of President Hamid Karzai's government, even though the Afghan leader has pleaded publicly with Western troops to take greater care to avoid killing and injuring noncombatants.

On Friday, villagers from Nad Ali made the arduous six-mile trek to the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, bringing more than a dozen bodies to the governor's home in protest.

Lashkar Gah, a city of about 85,000, has been extremely tense over the last week since insurgents massed on its outskirts and made two attempts to overrun it. Both efforts were repulsed by NATO and Afghan forces.