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Airstrikes kill 107 including 45 Afghan civilians
Elders in an area of southern Afghanistan pounded by foreign forces air strikes against the Taliban said they had recovered the bodies of 45 civilians with 62 rebels also dead, while a suicide bomber blew himself up near a NATO convoy, a mayor said on Sunday. The toll was the latest in a series of conflicting claims about how many people were killed in the US-led coalition and NATO bombing raids in Helmand province on Friday. The mayor of Girishk district, Dur Alisha, told AFP on Saturday that 65 civilians and 35 Taliban were killed, according to an initial investigation. On Sunday he amended the figure by saying that only 45 bodies of civilians had been recovered. People are digging under the rubble for more bodies. Theres a possibility that more people might be under debris, he added. Twenty-three civilians were wounded, said Alisha, head of a commission comprised of government officials and villages elders appointed to investigate the bombing in the villages of Haidarabad and Mandawa. Village elders provided the figures, he added. NATOs International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said its numbers were significantly lower than those provided by local officials but it would not give details. Meanwhile, a suicide bomber blew himself up on Sunday near a NATO convoy in Grishk, officials and a witness said. Two Afghan passers-by were also wounded in the bombing, local police commander Amanullah told AFP. Another official said a vehicle of NATOs ISAF was on fire but he had no information about military casualties. It was a suicide bombing on a NATO convoy. One NATO military vehicle is in flames right now, Alisha told AFP. The ISAF media office in Kabul could not immediately confirm the attack. A witness named Feda Mohammad said the vehicle had burst into flames. I could see a NATO car in flames. It was burning, Mohammad told AFP. Posted by: Fred 2007-07-02 |
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