AFGHANISTAN: Villagers in the Shigal district show the dead bodies of eleven children they say were killed in a NATO airstrike

Record ID: 173993

  • Title: AFGHANISTAN: Villagers in the Shigal district show the dead bodies of eleven children they say were killed in a NATO airstrike
  • Date: 7th April 2013
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Pashto) TRIBAL ELDER FROM SHIGAL DISTRICT, HAJI SHAH MAHMOOD, SAYING: "Eleven children have been killed, ageing from one-year old to eight years old. But we have not counted the number of women that were killed in this operation."
  • Embargoed: 22nd April 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Afghanistan
  • Country: Afghanistan
  • Topics: Conflict
  • Reuters ID: LVAAA1RJ55F6SNKWM7T0JJ8DOOLA
  • Story Text: Eleven children and a woman were killed by an air strike during a NATO operation targeting Taliban commanders in eastern Afghanistan, officials in the region said on Sunday (April 7).
    Civilian deaths have been a long-running source of friction between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his international backers. Karzai has forbidden Afghan troops from calling for air strikes and NATO advise crews not to fire at or bomb in populated areas.
    Six insurgents - two of them senior Taliban leaders - were killed during the operation in a village in Shigal district in Kunar province, which is on the Pakistani border, on Saturday (April 6), the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
    The Interior Ministry did not mention any civilian casualties but Mohammad Zahir Safai, the Shigal district chief, said the woman and the children were killed when the houses collapsed on them.
    A Reuters journalist saw the bodies of 11 children when they were taken to Safai's office in protest by their families and other villagers on Sunday.
    The journalist did not see the body of a women and Safai said residents told him of the death. Women's bodies are not displayed, according to custom.
    A local tribal elder confirmed the number of dead children and said they had not yet counted the number of dead women. He also said this wasn't the first time he had seen children killed in this way.

    "This is the fifth incident that I remember where children and women have been killed. There is no proof that Al Qaeda or any other fighters were killed," said tribal elder Haji Shah Mahmood.
    A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), Lieutenant Colonel Richard W. Spiegel, said they were aware of reports of civilian casualties and were assessing the incident.

    "I can confirm there was an engagement yesterday in Shegal in which Afghan national security forces were engaged by insurgents and coalition airpower was used. We understand that there has been allegations of civilian causalities. We take all such allegations seriously and are assessing the situation to determine the facts," he said at the main ISAF base in Kabul.
    The Ministry of Interior said the two dead Taliban commanders, Ali Khan and Gul Raouf, planned and organised attacks in Kunar.
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