Sixty children were killed in air strikes by US-led coalition warplanes in western Afghanistan last week, a UN investigation has found. UN investigators said they had discovered “convincing evidence” that a total of 90 Afghan civilians died in the incident.
The toll, potentially the worst since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001, could wreck relations between the Afghan government and NATO forces, which were already under severe strain over civilian casualties and strategy in the counter-insurgency against the Taliban.
The government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered that any military operation by foreign forces on its territory be subject to a new set of rules enforceable under international law.
Kai Eide, the UN special envoy to Afghanistan who ordered the investigation, said the incident could undermine the faith of Afghans in international efforts to stabilize the country.
Military sources said the air strikes last Thursday on the Shindand district of Herat Province were carried out not by the NATO force attempting to bolster Karzai’s government, but as part of a parallel US mission targeting al-Qaeda and Taliban militants.
US officials initially said that the air strikes were aimed at a Taliban stronghold and had killed 30 jihadis.
In his report, Eide said investigators from the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan found that up to eight houses in the village of Nawabad were destroyed in the raids and many others damaged.
Meanwhile, an air strike killed 30 Taliban in southeastern Afghanistan close to the border with Pakistan and Afghan police killed 18 more militants in the south of the country, officials said yesterday.
International troops called in the air strike in which 30 Taliban fighters were killed after the militants attacked a convoy of foreign troops and Afghan forces in Paktika Province on Tuesday, the deputy provincial governor said.
Also on Tuesday, 18 Taliban were killed in a clash with police in southern Helmand Province the provincial police chief said.
A German soldier was killed and three injured in an attack by militant forces in northern Afghanistan, German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung said yesterday.
The soldiers were hit by an explosion near the city of Kunduz. It was initially unclear exactly what kind of device caused the blast, German officials said.
Japan pledged yesterday to continue with its assistance in Afghanistan after authorities said a Japanese aid worker had been killed.
Afghan authorities said they found the bullet-riddled body of Kazuya Ito, 31, an agriculture specialist for a Japanese non-governmental group who was kidnapped the day before.
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
RULES BROKEN: The MAC warned Chinese not to say anything that would be harmful to the autonomous status of Taiwan or undermine its sovereignty A Chinese couple accused of disrupting a pro-democracy event in Taipei organized by Hong Kong residents has been deported, the National Immigration Agency said in a statement yesterday afternoon. A Chinese man, surnamed Yao (姚), and his wife were escorted by immigration officials to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, where they boarded a flight to China before noon yesterday, the agency said. The agency said that it had annulled the couple’s entry permits, citing alleged contraventions of the Regulations Governing the Approval of Entry of People of the Mainland Area into the Taiwan Area (大陸地區人民進入台灣地區許可辦法). The couple applied to visit a family member in
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