An air strike by Western forces killed 21 civilians, including
women and children, in Afghanistan, a provincial governor said
Wednesday, the latest in a string of civilian casualties that has
riled Afghans.
The incident, which brings to nearly 90 the number of civilian
deaths blamed by Afghan officials on Western troops in the past two
weeks, comes as President Hamid Karzai faces rising pressure to
halt the bloodshed and find a way to start peace talks with Taliban
insurgents.
The air strike on Tuesday night hit houses in a village in the
Sangin district of southern Helmand province, where Western forces
have been hunting Taliban militants in recent weeks, said Helmand
governor Assadullah Wafa.
"Last night, NATO forces carried out an operation in Sangin and
as a result of its bombing, 21 civilians, including women and
children and men, have been killed," he said.
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NATO said its security force had not been active in that area on
Tuesday but Wafa may have referring to a clash involving US-led
coalition troops hunting Taliban near Sangin, in which one
coalition soldier was also killed the same day.
A US military spokesman said he had heard reports about
civilians killed in this clash but his information was that the
only other people killed were militants. Wafa said he had no report
of casualties among the Taliban.
Helmand is a Taliban stronghold and the key drug-producing
region of Afghanistan, the world's leading source of opium.
While most civilian casualties in Afghanistan in recent years
have been linked to the hands of Taliban militants, a rising number
of deaths in "friendly fire" from Western troops has added to
pressure on the government.
The US commander for eastern Afghanistan, Army Colonel John
Nicholson, apologized on Tuesday for the killing of 19 civilians by
US troops just over a month ago.
An inquiry is under way into UN and Afghan reports that around
50 civilians were killed in a coalition operation in the west late
last month, one of several incidents that has prompted NATO to seek
ways to change how it operates to minimize civilian
casualties.
(China Daily via agencies May 10, 2007)
