Dozens of civilians dead in Afghan battles, locals claim
AFGHANISTAN: Scores of civilians and Taliban were killed in
days of fighting in southern Afghanistan, local officials said, but
NATO’s force confirmed only that “a large number” of rebels were dead.
Accounts from Chora district of Uruzgan province suggested around 60
civilians may have been killed, most of them in bombing raids by foreign
forces, provincial council chief Mawlawi Hamdullah told AFP.
A spokesman for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)
said it had received no reports of civilian deaths but believed a
similar number of Taliban were killed in three days of fighting.
“We don’t have any deaths of civilians reported to us,” Major John
Thomas told AFP.
There were however reports of less than 10 civilians wounded, he
said.
ISAF also said one of its soldiers was killed and three wounded. The
Netherlands later identified the dead soldier as a Dutch national.
“Two Afghan National policemen were also reported killed, as were a
large number of enemy extremist fighters,” it said in a statement.
Hamdullah said the fighting in Chora, 40 kilometres (25 miles) north
of the main town of Tirin Kot, also killed 16 local people who had been
resisting the Taliban.
On the civilian death toll, he said: “We may be able in course of
days to determine the exact number of dead and wounded. Now we can only
talk about estimation.”
Kandahar, Tuesday, AFP |