Financial Times
Published: May 10 2007
US-led coalition air strikes killed 21 civilians in a battle in southern Afghanistan, an Afghan official said on Wednesay, in the latest of a string of civilian casualties that is stoking public anger towards foreign troops.
Assadullah Wafa, Helmand’s provincial governor, said Taliban fighters took shelter in villagers’ homes during the fighting late on Tuesday, and that subsequent air strikes killed 21 civilians, including several women, children and elderly men.
“The bombing started at 11 o’clock last night in Sangin at a place called Sarwan Qala. We have sent people to investigate, so this is just a preliminary number [of casualties],” he said.
A US coalition soldier was also killed in the clash, the US military said. The area, which lies in the heart of the opium-growing region, has been the scene of heavy fighting in recent weeks.
Major Chris Belcher, US military spokesman, said Tuesday’s air strikes were called in to support US special forces and Afghan soldiers. “Right now we don’t have a definitive number of Taliban militants killed and we have no confirmed reports of any civilians killed,” he said.
Hamid Karzai, Afghan president, warned last week after reports that 51 civilians were killed in the west of the country that Afghanistan “can no longer accept civilian casualties”.
The rising civilian death toll is eroding support for Mr Karzai’s government, which is also under fire for rising corruption and a failure to deliver development.
Afghanistan’s upper house of parliament on Tuesday passed a bill calling for a halt to all international military operations unless co- ordinated with the Afghan government, and called for the government to open peace talks with the Taliban.
The civilian deaths in Helmand, the second incident in the province this week, brings to almost 90 the number of civilians killed in Afghanistan in the past seven days, according to Afghan officials and rights groups.
The incident also comes one day after the US military apologised and paid compensation to the families of 19 people killed and 50 wounded by US Marines special forces, who fired indiscriminately on civilians after being hit by a suicide attack in eastern Afghanistan in March.
Death tolls in rugged and far-flung parts of Afghanistan are difficult to verify. Taliban fighters often seek shelter in Afghan homes, leading to civilian casualties.