More than 3,000 tribesmen rallied in eastern Afghanistan Thursday against a raid by US and Afghan troops that killed five people including a teenage girl.
The US-led military on Tuesday announced it killed four suspected "terrorists" in a joint operation with Afghan security forces Darnami in restive Khost province, in which a 13-year-old girl also died. Bearded and turbaned tribesmen took to the streets near Khost city, the provincial capital, insisting that the victims were all civilians, an AFP correspondent said.
"We will defend our rights to the last drop of our blood," the marchers chanted using a public address system. The protesters also demanded the punishment of soldiers involved "in the killing of innocent civilians". The demonstrators called on President Hamid Karzai to pressure foreign troops to stop killing civilians.
"We want the government to ask the foreign troops to stop killing us or we'll stop supporting his government," they said. At least 1,000 civilians have died in Afghanistan's worst year of violence since the Taliban regime fell in late 2001 - most through insurgent action but some in Nato or US-led coalition operations, according to an official report.
Comments
Comments are closed.