Dozens of protesters blocked a road on Saturday in eastern Afghanistan claiming US-led coalition forces killed three civilians.
Villagers from the area carried the three bodies to a major highway during the protest, in which police allegedly opened fire, killing one and wounding three.
The coalition said its troops were attacked while searching compounds on Friday in the Shinwar district of Nangarhar Province.
PHOTO: AP
“Several militants were killed” and nine insurgents were arrested, it said in a statement on Saturday.
The coalition said the operation was targeting a “foreign fighter network” and that militants in the area had recently attacked coalition forces. The troops destroyed several automatic rifles, grenades and ammunition discovered in the compounds.
Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary said the government was investigating the villagers’ claims.
“The coalition claimed they were fired upon from a house and the enemy were gathered there, but the villagers claim those people who were killed were innocent civilians,” said Mohammad Hashem Ghamsharik, spokesman for the Nangarhar governor.
The head of the Nangarhar provincial council, Fazel Hadi Muslimyar, said police opened fire on the protesters, killing one and wounding three. Police refused to comment.
The Afghan government has pleaded with coalition forces to coordinate more closely to avoid civilian casualties, but foreign troops say insurgents hide in villages, using civilians as human shields.
More than 1,200 people, mostly militants, have died so far this year in insurgency-related violence in Afghanistan, according to an Associated Press count.
Separately in central Kapisa Province, a coalition vehicle hit a roadside bomb on Friday in Tag Ab valley, killing one service member, the coalition said. It did not give details.
In eastern Paktia Province, Afghan and foreign forces killed seven suspected Taliban insurgents during an operation on Friday, said provincial police chief General Hismatullah Alizai.
In southern Helmand Province, three Danish soldiers suffered minor injuries after a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle on Saturday, said a statement from the Danish military.
In the southern city of Kandahar, police arrested two Pakistanis and an Afghan transporting a car full of explosives on Saturday, said provincial police chief Sayed Agha Saqib.
One of the Pakistani suspects said he was hired by insurgents in Karachi to pick up explosives from the Afghan border district of Spin Boldak and deliver them to Kandahar city for 10,000 rupees (US$150).
US military and intelligence officials have warned that Pakistan’s tribal areas are becoming a breeding ground for Taliban, al-Qaeda and other militant groups.
Pakistan is a U.S. ally and has deployed more than 100,000 troops in its border areas but has struggled to contain rising militancy.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS