Tolo News, August 19, 2010

Afghans Stage Protests Against NATO in E Afghanistan

These civilians were killed in operations conducted by foreign forces, Abdul Ghafoor, a spokesman for the Police Chief of Nangarhar, told TOLOnews

Dozens of Afghans rallied Wednesday shouting anti-American slogans for the killing of civilians in NATO operations in eastern Afghanistan

Afghans stand around the body one of two people who were killed in a night raid, in Jalalabad August 18, 2010. Afghan and U.S.-led forces killed two insurgents and detained several more in eastern Nangarhar province on Tuesday, ISAF said. Protesters blocked a main highway out of Jalalabad, saying the dead men, a father and son, were civilians. (Photo: REUTER/Parwiz)

Angry protesters in the eastern Nangarhar province rallied on Wednesday morning for the killing of two civilians and the arrest of three others by foreign forces in the province's Surkhroad district on Tuesday night.

The protesters, many of them locals, were shouting "Down with Obama" and "Down with foreign forces", claiming that the dead people in the incident were local civilians.

These protesters who had blocked the Kabul-Jalalabad highway before the traffic, said one of the civilians was a farmer, and the other one was a shopkeeper, and the three arrested ones are also innocent civilians.

They urged the Afghan government to pursue the issue.

These civilians were killed in operations conducted by foreign forces, Abdul Ghafoor, a spokesman for the Police Chief of Nangarhar, told TOLOnews.

The operations were conducted without coordination with Afghan forces, he added.

ISAF Media Office in the east denied the report saying the operation was conducted in coordination with Afghan forces.

It adds that the coalition forces came under firings from a house when they entered Surkhroad district on Tuesday night, and in cross-firings, two locals whom ISAF indentified as insurgents were killed and three others were arrested.

ISAF media office added that these men were involved in suicide attacks and road-side mine blasts.

Civilian deaths in international forces' operations have sparked controversy between Karzai's administration and the top NATO military officials.

According to a report recently published by the United Nation's Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), civilian casualties have increased by 31 percent in the first six months of 2010.

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