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US bomb strikes kill ‘dozens’ of Afghan villagers
Ed Harris6 May 2009
Air strikes by US forces in Afghanistan are thought to have killed dozens of civilians, including women and children, as pictures emerged showing villagers burying their dead.
The International Red Cross says civilians were sheltering from fighting in the western province of Farah when their houses were struck. Villagers have claimed that more than 150 civilians had died, but officials said there was no way to verify the allegations.
Afghan president Hamid Karzai, who is in the US for talks with Barack Obama, described the civilian deaths as “unacceptable”. Mr Karzai said he had ordered a probe into the bombings and will raise the issue with the US President today.
The US military today sent a brigadier general to Farah province to investigate the claims.
A team from the International Committee of the Red Cross travelled to Bala Baluk district in Farah yesterday, where the officials saw “dozens of bodies in each of the two locations that we went to”, according to spokeswoman Jessica Barry.
She said: “There were bodies, there were graves, and there were people burying bodies when we were there. We do confirm women and children.”
Civilian deaths have caused increasing friction between the Afghan and US governments. US and Nato officials accuse the Taliban militants of fighting from within civilian homes, thus putting them in danger.
Afghan officials said that bombing runs ordered by US forces killed dozens of civilians in Gerani village in the Bala Baluk district. Fighting broke out on Monday soon after Taliban fighters massed in Farah province. Villagers told Afghan officials that they put children, women, and elderly men in several housing compounds in the village of Gerani — about three miles to the east — to keep them safe. But villagers claimed fighter aircraft later targeted those compounds, killing most of those inside.
Villagers brought bodies, including women and children, to Farah city to show the province's governor yesterday, said Abdul Basir Khan, a member of Farah's provincial council. He estimated that villagers brought in about 30 bodies.
Farah's hospital treated at least three wounded villagers. A girl named Shafiqa, who had bandages under her chin and had two toes severed, told AP Television News: “We were at home when the bombing started. Seven members of my family were killed.”
* The Pakistani army says it has killed about 35 militants in a Taliban stronghold in the north-western Swat Valley. The troops were responding to attacks from terrorists based around a series of emerald mines. Two soldiers also died today in a roadside bomb explosion in the north of the valley.
