KUNDUZ – Afghan authorities are probing reports that 14 civilians werekilled or wounded during a military operation, the defence ministry saidFriday, with several officials saying women and children were among thevictims.
The casualties were caused by an air strike in the northern province ofKunduz on Thursday, Char Dara district governor Zalmai Farooqi andvillagers told AFP.
Villager Haji Shireen said 13 people, all women or children, were killed inthe air strike that also destroyed some houses in Robat village.
An AFP reporter said he saw 12 bodies when he visited the village onThursday.
Kunduz regional hospital head Naeem Mangal said the bodies of 12 women andchildren had been brought to the medical facility.
“Women and children were martyred,” Farooqi said, blaming “foreign” forcesfor the air strike.
US Forces in Afghanistan did not immediately respond to an AFP request forcomment.
The defence ministry statement did not specify if the casualties werecaused by an air strike.
“A high-ranking military and government delegation has been appointed toclosely investigate the incident,” the statement said.
Kunduz governor spokesman Naimatullah Taimor confirmed an investigativeteam had arrived in Char Dara district.
The incident comes days after a UN report showed the number of civilianskilled in the nearly 17-year conflict hit a record high in the first sixmonths of 2018.
The toll of 1,692 fatalities was one percent more than a year earlier andthe highest for the period since the United Nations Assistance Mission inAfghanistan (UNAMA) began keeping records in 2009.
Another 3,430 people were wounded in the war, down five percent from thesame period last year, the report said.
Air strikes caused 353 casualties in the six-month period, up 52 percent onlast year. More than half of the civilian casualties were caused by theAfghan Air Force.
One of the worst incidents was in Kunduz in April, when an Afghan airstrike on an outdoor religious gathering in Dashte Archi killed or wounded107 people, mostly children, a previous UNAMA report found.
The government and military said it had targeted a Taliban base wheresenior members of the group were planning attacks.
Kunduz has been the scene of fierce fighting between Afghan security forcesand the Taliban, which has been resurgent since the withdrawal of NATOcombat forces at the end of 2014.
As many as 40 security forces were killed in a series of Taliban attacks inDashte Archi district earlier this month, security sources told AFPpreviously. – APP/AFP