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17 May 2009
An Afghan
investigation has concluded that at least 140
civilians died in US air raids on villages in Farah
province last week, the defence ministry has said.
The official announcement on Saturday came a day after
the investigative team, headed by an Afghan army
general, had presented their findings to Hamid Karzai,
Afghanistan's president.
"The delegation visited the site of the incident, the
graves, assessed intelligence authorities' reports,
met with the ulema [religious leaders], elders and
locals to complete their investigations," an Afghan
defence ministry statement said.
"Based on local accounts, reports of intelligence
authorities, professional assessments and
observations, [it] put the number of the martyred in
this awful incident at 140 and the number of wounded
at 25."
The death toll would make it the deadliest incident
for Afghan civilians since the US-led invasion in
2001.
US investigations
The US military has acknowledged that "a number" of
civilians were killed, but said it was impossible to
say how many because all the bodies were buried before
investigators arrived.
Colonel Greg Julian, a US military spokesman, said
that two US investigations were still under way, one
ordered by commanders in Afghanistan immediately after
the incident and another ordered more recently by US
Central Command, responsible for the wars in both
Afghanistan and Iraq.
The villages in the Bala Baluk district of the
southwestern province were bombed on May 3 after
Afghan forces and US marines became involved in a
battle with suspected Taliban fighters.
Witnesses said that villagers were hiding in their
homes when the US aircraft destroyed them.
The government compiled a list of the victims which
said that 93 of the dead were children and only 22
were adult males.
The Afghan government has paid the relatives of
victims the equivalent of about $2,000 for those who
were killed and $1,000 for the wounded, the defence
ministry said.
Karzai demanded the military halt its use of air raids
after the incident, but so far the US military has
only agreed to review its operations to try to reduce
the risk to civilians.
On Saturday, the defence ministry quoted Karzai as
saying: "No other news makes me as sad and sorrowful
as incidents of civilian casualties during military
operations."
Such incidents have brought repeated condemnation from
the Afghan government, which says they are turning
people against Karzai's administration and foreign
forces operating in the country.
EsinIslam.Com
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