AGL 38.09 Decreased By ▼ -0.07 (-0.18%)
AIRLINK 136.34 Increased By ▲ 2.15 (1.6%)
BOP 9.20 Increased By ▲ 0.35 (3.95%)
CNERGY 4.72 Increased By ▲ 0.03 (0.64%)
DCL 8.85 Increased By ▲ 0.18 (2.08%)
DFML 38.34 Decreased By ▼ -1.44 (-3.62%)
DGKC 85.45 Increased By ▲ 0.30 (0.35%)
FCCL 35.15 Increased By ▲ 0.25 (0.72%)
FFBL 76.21 Increased By ▲ 0.61 (0.81%)
FFL 12.66 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-0.63%)
HUBC 108.70 Decreased By ▼ -0.75 (-0.69%)
HUMNL 14.73 Increased By ▲ 0.63 (4.47%)
KEL 5.58 Increased By ▲ 0.18 (3.33%)
KOSM 7.96 Increased By ▲ 0.21 (2.71%)
MLCF 40.78 Decreased By ▼ -0.59 (-1.43%)
NBP 70.94 Increased By ▲ 1.24 (1.78%)
OGDC 195.25 Increased By ▲ 1.63 (0.84%)
PAEL 26.96 Increased By ▲ 0.75 (2.86%)
PIBTL 7.46 Increased By ▲ 0.04 (0.54%)
PPL 168.02 Increased By ▲ 4.17 (2.55%)
PRL 26.19 Decreased By ▼ -0.17 (-0.64%)
PTC 20.34 Increased By ▲ 0.87 (4.47%)
SEARL 92.75 Increased By ▲ 8.35 (9.89%)
TELE 7.84 Decreased By ▼ -0.15 (-1.88%)
TOMCL 35.49 Increased By ▲ 1.44 (4.23%)
TPLP 8.91 Increased By ▲ 0.19 (2.18%)
TREET 17.29 Increased By ▲ 0.11 (0.64%)
TRG 59.27 Decreased By ▼ -1.73 (-2.84%)
UNITY 31.02 Increased By ▲ 2.06 (7.11%)
WTL 1.37 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
BR100 10,901 Increased By 125.5 (1.16%)
BR30 32,654 Increased By 420 (1.3%)
KSE100 101,357 Increased By 1274.6 (1.27%)
KSE30 31,488 Increased By 295 (0.95%)

An Afghan investigation has found that 37 civilians were killed in US air strikes that hit a wedding party, along with 26 Taliban, the Kandahar provincial government said Friday. President Hamid Karzai had said "around 40" civilians were killed in the strike in the province's Shah Wali Kot district on Monday that followed an ambush on international soldiers.
The Kandahar government sent a team of officials and police to Wacha Bakhta village to investigate the incident, the latest in a series that have caused friction between Kabul and its international allies.
"Our investigations show that 37 civilians and 26 Taliban were killed in the air strike and another 31 civilians and seven militants were wounded," the government said in a statement. It was not clear how many were women and children, it said. The militants had left 15 bodies at the scene and took the remainder and the wounded with them, the statement said.
The troops had been on patrol around the village, which is about 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of Kandahar, when they came under attack by militants, the investigation found, confirming a statement by the US military. The forces responded with ground and air fire which also hit a wedding party, it said. The US force in Afghanistan said earlier this week it could not confirm civilian casualties but was investigating.
Villagers said a wedding lunch had just ended and the bride was preparing to say farewell to her family when the fighting started, lasting for several hours until midnight.
The government has given 2,000 dollars to families for each person killed and 160 dollars for those wounded, the statement said. Karzai also spoke by telephone Friday to the bereaved families and extended his condolences, his office said separately.
He made a similar telephone call to families in Gormach district of the north-western province of Badghis where police said seven more civilians were killed in strikes again militants on Wednesday. The allegations are being investigated.
International military forces in Afghanistan have been criticised for causing civilian casualties in military operations, most often air strikes, against insurgents. The forces, which have tens of thousands of troops here trying to put down a Taliban-led insurgency, say they take care to be precise in their targeting and insurgents sometimes use people as "human shields."

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2008

Comments

Comments are closed.