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US Air Strike Kills 25 Afghan Civilians
By Peter Walker and agencies
The Guardian Unlimited UK
Friday 22 June 2007
A US air strike in southern Afghanistan has killed up to 25 civilians, a local
police chief said today.
The victims included women, children and a cleric as well as 20 suspected Taliban
militants, according to Mohammad Hussein Andiwal, the Helmand province police
chief.
The air strike - which happened late yesterday - was launched in response to
an attack on police posts near the town of Gereshk by militants.
It killed 25 civilians including nine women, three babies and the mullah of
a local mosque, Mr Andiwal said.
In a statement, Nato said a compound "assessed to have been occupied by
up to 30 insurgent fighters, most of whom were killed in the engagement",
had been attacked.
"We are concerned about reports that some civilians may have lost their
lives during this attack," Lieutenant Colonel Mike Smith, a Nato spokesman,
said.
However, he blamed the deaths on Taliban fighters for sheltering among civilians.
"It was the insurgents who initiated this attack, and in choosing to conduct
such attacks in this location and at this time, the risk to civilians was probably
deliberate," he added. "It is this irresponsible action that may have
led to casualties."
There has been increasing anger among Afghans about the number of civilian
deaths that have resulted from international military operations.
According to the Associated Press news agency, the latest deaths - if confirmed
- will bring the number of civilians killed in NATO or US-led military operations
this year to 177. Among these were seven children who died in a US air strike
on Sunday.
A total of 169 civilians have been killed in militant attacks this year, including
a recent series of suicide bombings.
Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, has faced public protests over the issue.
In an interview with the BBC yesterday, Mr Karzai criticised the rising toll
from foreign troop operations. "This is a suffering that increasingly is
becoming difficult for us to accept or understand," he said.
However, the new British ambassador to Kabul this week insisted foreign troops
were popular among a civilian population wary of a return to Taliban rule.
"Mistakes have been made. I know that, we all know that, we regret them
deeply," Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles told the BBC on Wednesday.
"But the Taliban are responsible for five times as many civilian casualties
as the coalition forces here." People's main concern was "not about
us staying. It's about us going", he added.
Nato has also acknowledged that some civilians died in a three-day battle with
Taliban fighters in the central Uruzgan province.
"Some may have been killed at the hands of the Taliban, some may have
been caught in crossfire and some may have died in airstrikes against enemy
positions," Lt Col Smith said.
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