Afghan president orders probe into civilian deaths
Sun Jul 6, 2:38 AM EDT
Loading...
KABUL — Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered an investigation into a U.S.-led coalition airstrike that local officials say killed 15 civilians, but the U.S. military says killed only armed Taliban militants.
The issue of civilian casualties is an emotive one in Afghanistan, feeding a common perception international forces do not take enough care when launching airstrikes, and undermining support for their continued presence in the country.
Nearly 700 Afghan civilians were killed in the first six months of this year, 255 of them by Afghan government and international troops, the rest by Taliban militants.
Coalition ground troops called in air support from attack helicopters after militants attacked an outpost in the northeastern province of Nuristan on Friday, the U.S. military said in a statement on Saturday.
"The helicopter crews coordinated with ground forces to positively identify the militants' vehicles. The attack helicopters then destroyed the two vehicles, killing more than a dozen militants," it said.
But the governor of Nuristan said 15 civilians were killed and seven wounded in the attack in the Waigal district of Nuristan and none of the victims were militants.
Karzai ordered the Defense and Interior Ministries and a body that oversees local government to investigate, a statement from the presidential palace said on Sunday.
"President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly emphasized the (need for) coordination of military operations and has been deeply saddened since learning about this incident," the statement said.
Both the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and U.S.-led coalition forces say they take the utmost care to avoid killing civilians and ISAF tightened procedures for launching airstrikes a year ago, which has had some effect.
ISAF accuses the Taliban of launching attacks from built-up areas in order to deliberately court civilian deaths.
But with the U.S. Pentagon warning last week that the Taliban are likely to intensify the scope and pace of their attacks, more civilians are certain to be caught in the cross-fire.
(Writing by Jon Hemming; Editing by Jerry Norton)
(c) Reuters 2008. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
