Friday, June 22, 2007

'Afghans killed' in air strikes


Some 25 civilians have died during aerial bombing by foreign forces in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, local residents and senior police say.
A spokesman for the Nato-led force (Isaf) said he was aware of an incident involving casualties.
President Hamid Karzai told the BBC this week that civilian deaths caused by foreign forces would have to stop.
If not, Mr Karzai warned that Afghans might turn against those countries with a military presence in Afghanistan.
He added, however, that people were still grateful for that involvement.
'No consultation'
Speaking to the BBC's correspondent in southern Afghanistan, people from the village of De Adam Khan, near the town of Gereshk in Helmand, said heavy bombings of the area had resulted in the civilian deaths.

They said nine women and three children were among those killed.
The accounts were backed by the district police chief, and the provincial police chief, Mohammed Husain Andiwal.
He told the BBC his team, visiting the site, had confirmed the deaths. Mr Andiwal alleged that foreign forces had launched air strikes on the village without consulting with their Afghan counterparts.
A spokesman in Kabul for the Nato-led peacekeeping force, Isaf, said he was aware of an incident involving casualties in the south.
He said he did not know whether the casualties were civilian, and was awaiting further information.
In the neighbouring province of Uruzgan, Isaf has said that days of fighting appeared to have caused civilian deaths, some of which might have come from air strikes against Taleban insurgents.


BBC News

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