Afghanistan’s president has ordered a probe into a rocket attack which his office said yesterday killed an unspecified number of people, as leaked documents laid bare the civilian toll of the US-led war.
The attack took place on a village in the Sangin area of Helmand Province on Friday, Siddiq Siddiqi, a spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai, said.
An unspecified number of Afghan civilians, including women and children, were killed in the attack, he said.
“The attack took place, but we don’t have more information. That will be clarified by the National Security Council [NSC], which is investigating the incident,” he said.
The NSC investigation follows reports that up to 40 civilians were killed in a rocket attack on a village in Sangin, a Taliban hotspot that coalition forces have struggled to bring under control.
Siddiqi could not verify whether troops from NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were involved in the attack.
ISAF spokesman Colonel Wayne Shanks said the location of the reported civilian deaths, a village called Regey, was “several kilometers away from where we had engaged enemy fighters.”
ISAF forces fought a battle with insurgents, he said, but an investigation team dispatched after the casualty reports emerged “had accounted for all the rounds that were shot at the enemy,” Shanks said.
“We found no evidence of civilian casualties,” he said, adding that the district medical examiner had told ISAF investigators “there were no casualties.”
Karzai was “deeply saddened” at the loss of life and “instructed the national security advisor to thoroughly investigate the causes of this incident and to present its findings very soon to the presidency,” his office said.
The BBC said it sent an Afghan reporter to Regey to interview residents, who described the attack and said they buried 39 people.
Civilian casualties are an incendiary topic among Afghan officials and citizens, though most are caused by Taliban attacks, surveys have shown.
In the past year, civilian casualties in the nine-year war have dropped significantly thanks to policies introduced by NATO commanders aimed at minimizing collateral damage in operations against the insurgents.
Nevertheless, deaths and injuries still appear to be regular occurrences, and convince Afghans that the source of violence in the country is the presence of almost 150,000 US and NATO troops fighting the insurgency.
Reports surfaced on Saturday that a helicopter gunship had fired on villagers who had been told by the insurgents to leave their homes as a firefight with ISAF forces was imminent.
According to early witness accounts, nearby villagers fled to Regey and were fired on from helicopter gunships as they took cover.
The most recent incident of civilian deaths at the hands of NATO forces was on July 10, when six Afghans were shot dead by ISAF troops in Paktia Province, south of Kabul.
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
EUROPEAN FUTURE? Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says only he could secure EU membership, but challenges remain in dealing with corruption and a brain drain Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama seeks to win an unprecedented fourth term, pledging to finally take the country into the EU and turn it into a hot tourist destination with some help from the Trump family. The artist-turned-politician has been pitching Albania as a trendy coastal destination, which has helped to drive up tourism arrivals to a record 11 million last year. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined in the rush, pledging to invest US$1.4 billion to turn a largely deserted island into a luxurious getaway. Rama is expected to win another term after yesterday’s vote. The vote would
CANCER: Jose Mujica earned the moniker ‘world’s poorest president’ for giving away much of his salary and living a simple life on his farm, with his wife and dog Tributes poured in on Tuesday from across Latin America following the death of former Uruguayan president Jose “Pepe” Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive politics. He was 89. Mujica, who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity, lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment. “With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,” Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi wrote on X. “Pepe, eternal,” a cyclist shouted out minutes later,
A Soviet-era spacecraft plunged to Earth on Saturday, more than a half-century after its failed launch to Venus. Its uncontrolled entry was confirmed by both the Russian Space Agency and EU Space Surveillance and Tracking. The Russians indicated it came down over the Indian Ocean, but some experts were not so sure of the precise location. The European Space Agency’s space debris office also tracked the spacecraft’s doom after it failed to appear over a German radar station. It was not immediately known how much, if any, of the half-tonne spacecraft survived the fiery descent from orbit. Experts said ahead of time
RSS