By Storai Karimi
Dozens of people from the Shindand district of western Heart province on Tuesday staged a rally against the killing of civilians in a NATO airstrike.
Carrying the victims’ bodies, the protestors gathered in front of the governor’s office, chanting: “Death to the government and death to President Karzai. We will climb mountains to fight them.”
August 5, 2014: Four members of a family, two men, a woman and a child, were killed by a US military helicopter strike in Shindand, Herat. People carried their dead bodies and protested in front of the governor's office. (Photo: BBC Persian)
They alleged four members of a family including two men, a woman and a child, were struck a day earlier from a US military helicopter. They were traveling on a motorbike to their home.
Provincial council member from Shindand Tor Mohammad Zarifi said the victims belonged to a nomadic family, having no links with the Taliban. US troops allegedly put some weapons close to their bodies after the strike.
“American troops say they have killed the four people in the name of Taliban because the Shindand airport came under rocket attack a day earlier,” said the public representative.
Another protestor, Ghulam Rassoul, accused foreign forces of killing innocent people, whose area remained secure.
Ghulam Rasoul, another protestor, said dozens people were being killed daily in Shindand, but local authorities were yet to take any action. The district would fall to the Taliban if the situation continued, he warned.
Wahid Ahmad, a relative of one victim, urged President Hamid Karzai and local officials to bring the perpetrators to justice. Foreign troops and local officials are yet to comment on the issue.
May 1, 2012: Afghan villagers stand around the bodies of loved ones who were allegedly killed in an Afghan-led operation in Laghman east of Kabul, Afghanistan. NATO says a Taliban leader and another insurgent were killed after they opened fire on security forces taking part in an Afghan-led operation in the eastern province of Laghman. (Photo: Rahmat Gul/AP)