Afghans investigate reports Nato raid killed civilians Skip to main content

Afghans investigate reports Nato raid killed civilians

By Bilal Sarwary BBC News
A wounded Afghan civilian lies on the floor of a Blackhawk helicopter from Company C, 1st Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment, MEDEVAC team over the southern Kandahar province on March 28, 2011. Civilians are regularly killed or injured in Afghanistan's conflict

Taliban Conflict

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered an investigation into reports that a Nato-led raid killed a number of civilians earlier this week.
There have been conflicting accounts of what happened during the raid in the northern province of Sar-e Pol.
The local governor said five of those killed were civilians and only one was an insurgent. Nato says all those killed or arrested were militants.
The raid comes as tensions grow over the killings of civilians by Nato.
Analysts say the incident could worsen the already fragile relationship between the alliance and President Karzai, who has frequently expressed his anger over civilian casualties in military operations.
Joint operation Sar-e Pol Governor Sayed Anwar Rahmati said four other Afghans were taken away by Nato troops during the raid in Sayad district.
A local official in the province told the BBC that the target of the operation was a Taliban cell commander, responsible for making roadside bombs. According to the official, the raid was a joint US and Afghan special forces operation.
President Karzai has asked the provincial governor to establish the identity of the victims and to find out the exact circumstances of the killings.
A statement from the Nato-led Isaf force on Tuesday confirmed the operation had been carried out jointly by Isaf and Afghan forces on Monday.
It said "several insurgents" had been killed and several suspected insurgents detained.
Asked if Isaf had anything to add to its statement in the light of reports of civilian casualties, a spokesman in Kabul told the BBC: "We are aware of the reports. We fully support President Karzai's decision and we look forward to the results of the investigation."
He said Nato troops had reported to their commanders that the insurgents were armed. "That's why they were engaged," the spokesman said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12986924
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chronology of the Press in Burma

1836 – 1846 * During this period the first English-language newspaper was launched under British-ruled Tenasserim, southern  Burma . The first ethnic Karen-language and Burmese-language newspapers also appear in this period.     March 3, 1836 —The first English-language newspaper,  The Maulmain Chronicle , appears in the city of Moulmein in British-ruled Tenasserim. The paper, first published by a British official named E.A. Blundell, continued up until the 1950s. September 1842 —Tavoy’s  Hsa-tu-gaw  (the  Morning Star ), a monthly publication in the Karen-language of  Sgaw ,  is established by the Baptist mission. It is the first ethnic language newspaper. Circulation reached about three hundred until its publication ceased in 1849. January 1843 —The Baptist mission publishes a monthly newspaper, the Christian  Dhamma  Thadinsa  (the  Religious Herald ), in Moulmein. Supposedly the first Burmese-language newspaper, it continued up until the first year of the second Angl
Post a Comment
Read more

ARSA claims ambush on Myanmar security forces

Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) on Sunday claimed responsibility for an ambush on Myanmar security forces that left several wounded in northern Rakhine state, the first attack in weeks in a region gutted by violence. Rakhine was plunged into turmoil last August, when a series of ARSA raids prompted a military backlash so brutal the UN says it likely amounts to ethnic cleansing of the Muslim Rohingya minority. The army campaign sent some 650,000 Rohingya fleeing for Bangladesh, where refugees have given harrowing accounts of rape, murder and arson at the hands of security forces and vigilantes. Myanmar's military, which tightly controls information about Rakhine, denies any abuses and insists the crackdown was a proportionate response to crush the "terrorist" threat. ARSA have launched few attacks in recent months.  But the army reported that "about ten" Rohingya terrorists ambushed a car with hand-made mines and gunfire on Friday morning
Post a Comment
Read more

Thai penis whitening trend raises eyebrows

Image copyright LELUXHOSPITAL Image caption Authorities warn the procedure could be quite painful A supposed trend of penis whitening has captivated Thailand in recent days and left it asking if the country's beauty industry is taking things too far. Skin whitening is nothing new in many Asian countries, where darker skin is often associated with outdoor labour, therefore, being poorer. But even so, when a clip of a clinic's latest intriguing procedure was posted online, it quickly went viral. Thailand's health ministry has since issued a warning over the procedure. The BBC Thai service spoke to one patient who had undergone the treatment, who told them: "I wanted to feel more confident in my swimming briefs". The 30-year-old said his first session of several was two months ago, and he had since seen a definite change in the shade. 'What for?' The original Facebook post from the clinic offering the treatment, which uses lasers to break do
1 comment
Read more