By Khan Wali Salarzai
PAN, Mar. 2, 2011: The chief of police in eastern Kunar province on Wednesday confirmed that nine children had been killed in a NATO-led airstrike the previous day. Residents of Manogi district on Tuesday said the airstrike killed as many as 10 children as they collected firewood in Nangalam valley. (Photo: PAN)
The chief of police in eastern Kunar province on Wednesday confirmed that nine children had been killed in a NATO-led airstrike the previous day. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said it would investigate the claims.
Residents of Manogi district on Tuesday said the airstrike killed as many as 10 children as they collected firewood in Nangalam valley.
“Nine children were killed and one was injured in the ISAF raid yesterday,” Khalil Ullah Ziayi, the provincial police chief, told Pajhwok Afghan News.
“The children are 8 to 14 years old and were in the mountain to collect firewood,” he said
According to ISAF, the strike was conducted after an insurgent assault on their base in Nangalam, and those killed were all militants.
[utube]gLX890Xh1ZY[/utube]While Ziayi confirmed the Taliban had fired missiles at foreign forces in the area, he said children and not Taliban were the casualties.
Miya Hassan Adil, the chief of the provincial council, said the children were all part of the same family.
He accused ISAF of carelessness, questioning how the coalition, with its high tech weaponry, could not differ between Taliban and children.
ISAF said they would launch an investigation into the claims of civilian casualties after an attack on its base in Nangalam Valley. It said the attack wounded one civilian, working with the coalition.
On Feb. 18, 64 civilians were killed during a similar strike in Ghaziabad district of the province. Afghan investigators said the dead included 20 women and 29 children.