KABUL: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani apologised Wednesday to the familiesof civilians, mainly children, killed when the country’s air force sprayedan outdoor religious gathering with rockets and machine gun fire last month.
The April 2 airstrike on a ceremony attended by hundreds of men and boys inDasht-e-Archi district — a Taliban stronghold in the northern province ofKunduz — left at least 36 people dead including 30 children, a UnitedNations investigation has shown.
Seventy-one people were wounded, including 51 children, it said, addingthat it had “credible information” the tolls could be even higher.
Originally the government and military had said the Afghan Air Forcetargeted a Taliban base where senior members of the group were planningattacks.
The defence ministry initially denied any civilians had been hurt, thenclaimed the Taliban had shot them.
On Wednesday Ghani met families as well as local elders and apologised, astatement from the presidential palace said.
“(T)he difference between evildoers and a legitimate government is that alegitimate government apologises for the mistakes made,” he said, accordingto the statement.
He also vowed that the government would pay compensation to the families,and build a minaret in memory of the victims as well as a mosque for theregion. The statement gave no further details.
The UN investigators could not confirm if the casualties were all civiliansor whether Taliban leaders had been present at the time of the air strike.They have called for further investigations.
The government has sent two teams to conduct an investigation into theincident but so far neither team has “publicly reported their findings”,the UN said. – APP/AFP