NATO Raid Said To Have Killed 100 Civilians in Afghanistan
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
KABUL, Afghanistan — The Afghan government yesterday launched an investigation into claims that dozens of civilians were killed in NATO bombing raids on suspected Taliban positions this week in southern Afghanistan.
The death toll could be the largest among civilians in a single incident since the American-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
Afghan officials said they believed up to 60 Taliban and 85 civilians died in the bombing. NATO officials confirmed at least 12 civilian deaths following “rolling clashes” between joint NATO and Afghan forces and groups of Taliban fighters in Punjwai district, which lies 10 miles southwest of Kandahar city. However, NATO spokesmen said responsibility for the deaths remained unclear.
“Any civilian deaths, no matter how they were caused, are regretted by NATO,” Squadron Leader Jason Chalk said in Kandahar. “We can’t determine at this time whether these civilians were killed by NATO forces, the Afghan National Army, or Taliban fighters.”
NATO also said the Taliban had used the civilian population as cover for their activities. “With insurgents who regard the population as a form of human shield for themselves, it obviously makes life very difficult for us, but it does not stop us from making every effort to ensure that we minimize any problems,” a NATO spokesman, Mark Laity, said.
Hundreds of mourners yesterday attended an emotional funeral service in Kandahar city. “Everyone is very angry at the government and the coalition,” said Abdul Aye, who claimed 22 members of his extended family were killed. “These tragedies just keep continuing,” he added.
Afghan officials remain deeply concerned by the level of civilian casualties of NATO action in the south. “There is concern, because it gives a bad image to the Afghan government as well as to NATO,” one official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “The civilian populace hate the suicide bombs of the Taliban, but when NATO kills civilians during these operations, it has a very negative impact.”
A member of the provincial council for Kandahar, Bismillah Afghanmal, dismissed the government promise of an investigation.
“An investigation has no meaning,” he said. “These kinds of things have happened several times, and they only say, ‘Sorry.’ How can you compensate people who have lost their sons and daughters?”
Punjwai district was the scene of intense fighting between the Taliban and NATO forces between May and September, when NATO commanders pronounced Punjwai free from Taliban control.
The events of Tuesday night remain confused, but reports from locals driven to hospital in Kandahar on Wednesday described heavy bombing northeast of the villages of Zangawatt, Moshan, and Spirwan, between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. One report said 22 bodies were buried in a mass grave in one of the affected villages yesterday. Zangawatt lies close to a sand sea known as the Reg, which stretches to the Pakistan border and is a well-used infiltration point for drug smugglers and Taliban groups. Local people complain Taliban fighters routinely demand food and shelter from them.
Malim Akhbar, a tribal elder of Punjwai who visited the area of the attack yesterday and claims to have spoken to 30 elders from the villages affected, said: “The Taliban came in from the Reg. Around 80 Taliban fighters took shelter there and then launched an attack against NATO forces with rocket-propelled grenades and machine-gun fire. The bombing started on Tuesday night. 100 civilians were killed, and 80 were injured; 50 Taliban were also killed. NATO helicopters and jets used heavy bombs.”