Ahmad Qureshi
An injured Afghan child from the Bala Baluk, district of Afghanistan, is seen on a bed at the hospital in Farah province of Afghanistan Tuesday, May 5, 2009. Abdul Basir Khan, a member of Farah's provincial council, said villagers brought some 30 bodies, including women and children, to Farah city to show the province's governor, that they had been killed by coalition airstrikes. (Photo: AP)
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FARAH CITY: Residents of the Bala Boluk district in western Farah province on Tuesday claimed more than one hundred 'innocent people' have been killed in the Monday's air offensive by the US forces.
The air-strike in Bala Boluk district came after an insurgent attack on a police check post that killed six people and three others on spy charges on Sunday.
Following the militant attack, locals say, the American forces bombarded Grani village, inflecting huge casualties to non-combatants.
Dr Atiqullah, a resident of the village, told Pajhwok Afghan News the bombardment destroyed the whole village and some of the mutilated bodies were beyond recognition.
He said they had so far retrieved 123 dead bodies from beneath the debris of the destroyed homes by using tractors.
[mp4]bala_baluk_massacare_may5_2009[/mp4]Some of the injured people were provided first aid, Atiqullah said. One family lost 23 members alone, he claimed.
A tribal elder of the village, Abdul Manaan, told this news agency that 52 people in Ishaqzai area and 65 in Agha Sahiban area had been killed in the blitzkrieg.
"Our homes are destroyed and scores of people are killed, but the government is doing nothing," he lamented.
Manaan said a team of the Red Crescent society is expected to visit the area to observe the situation.
Public Health Director, Dr Abdul Shaiq, told this agency they had so far received two corpses and 13 injured people, including two police officers, children and women from the area.
Governor Roohul Amin confirmed civilian deaths in the air raid and said the operation was still underway in the district.
He claimed 30 armed Taliban have so far been eliminated in the operation.
A delegation has been formed to visit the affected families and assess the exact number of casualties, he claimed.
A provincial council member, Balqis Roshan said over 100 innocent people have been killed in Monday's bombardment.
As a protest, the locals also brought some dead bodies to the capital city, Farah.
Balqis blamed both the government and the international forces for what she described not taking care of the civilian lives.
Brian Naran an official at the US forces' media office in Kabul told this scribe the operations are still going on in Bala Boluk district, but would not say about non-combatant deaths.
An Afghan boy places dirt over the grave of one of his family members after air strikes in Ganj Abad of Bala Buluk district, in Farah province, May 5, 2009. (Photo: Reuters)
An injured Afghan woman from the Bala Baluk is seen on a bed at the hospital in Farah province. (Photo: AP)
Afghan villagers mark new burial site of victims who were allegedly killed during the coalition airstrikes in Bala Baluk district of Farah province. (Photo: AP)
A wounded Afghan villager stands amid the rubble of destroyed houses after the coalition airstrikes in Bala Baluk district of Farah province. (Photo: AP)
A wounded child in Farah yesterday. Up to 120 people, including civilians, were reported to have been killed in a series of US airstrikes on two villages. (Photo: The Times)
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