NATO Admits Attacks Killed Afghan Civilians
VOA News
05 August 2010
NATO has acknowledged that coalition and Afghan troops killed a number of civilians during a joint operation in eastern Afghanistan, and said it deeply regrets the loss of life.
Alliance officials say the complete casualty toll is uncertain, but that at least four, and possibly a dozen or more civilians died before dawn Thursday in Nangarhar province. Local officials say at least 26 civilians were killed during two separate incidents. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered an investigation of what happened.
NATO said its troops came under fire while searching for a Taliban commander in the village of Khwazakheyl in Sherzad district, and the allied force returned fire. The NATO statement did not discuss the second incident reported by local Afghan officials, who said a group of civilian vehicles came under attack while trying to cross a flooded area.
In a separate incident Thursday in northern Kunduz province, a suicide bomber killed seven Afghan policemen in an attack on Afghan and NATO-led forces. The Interior Ministry says the bomber rammed a car full of explosives into a military convoy in the Imam Sahib district.
Six police officers and five civilians were wounded in the attack. A NATO spokesman said coalition troops also were injured but gave no further details.
The Associated Press reports the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
President Karzai has called repeatedly for all military units in Afghanistan to minimize civilian casualties. The commander of U.S. and NATO forces in the country, General David Petraeus, made the issue a top priority in a directive for troops issued this week.
In southern Afghanistan, NATO says one of its helicopters made a "hard landing" near the village of Armarah in Kandahar province Thursday and caught fire. The alliance says eight of 15 passengers suffered minor injuries.
The site was later secured by Afghan police and NATO forces, and NATO says it is investigating the cause of the accident.
In neighboring Helmand province, Afghan officials say nine civilians were killed by a roadside bomb explosion.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
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