PAN, March 10, 2011

Police chief says ISAF killed woman in Kunduz

One woman was killed in her home and another was outside her home, he said

By Wahidullah

One woman died and another was injured when soldiers from the NATO-led coalition opened fire in the northern province of Kunduz, officials said.

The International Security Assistance Force said it was investigating the incident, but that a preliminary report showed the two women were over a kilometer away from where the firing took place.

A boy, injured during a NATO air strike, lies on a hospital bed in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province February 20, 2011. Joint operations by Afghan forces and NATO-led foreign troops killed 64 civilians in Kunar, including many women and children, over the past four days, the governor of Kunar said on Sunday. (Photo: Reuters)

The incident happened in Doorman area of Chahar Dara district on Wednesday night when ISAF responded to an attack and retaliated with gun fire, the police district chief, Col. Ghulam Mahiuddin, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

One woman was killed in her home and another was outside her home, he said. The injured woman was taken to an ISAF health facility in Kunduz city where she was in critical condition, he said.

"Foreign soldiers killed a woman and injured another intentionally and there should be a response," a resident of the area, Arbab Ali, said. Even if someone attacked them, they should not target women, he said.

ISAF said its patrol was attacked with small arms fire in the west of Kunduz city. The patrol returned fire and observed two males fleeing the scene.

Later, an Afghan woman with an open head would was presented to the Kunduz hospital of the Provincial Reconstruction Team where she later died, a statement from ISAF said. A second woman was brought to a local hospital with a small metal fragment in her knee. She was treated and was discharged, it said.

According to the statement, an investigation into the incident found that the woman with the head wound was in her house, 1.3km from where the firing took place, it said. There was also no damage to the woman’s house, it said.

Civilian casualties are a sensitive issue in NATO-Afghan relations.

On Feb. 18, 2011 up to 64 civilians were mistakenly killed in a US air raid in the eastern province of Kunar, bordering Pakistan. On March 1, nine Afghan boys were killed in a ISA air raid in another case of mistaken identity in Kunar.

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