8 Civilians Killed In Baghlan NATO Raid

Tuesday, 24 August 2010 11:27Written by TOLOnews

At least 8 civilians were killed and 12 were wounded in NATO operations in the northern Baghlan province on Monday, officials say

The incident occurred Monday afternoon in the province's Tala and Barfak districts when foreign forces entered a residential house and shot dead 8 civilians, wounded 12 and arrested 9 others, local officials say.

NATO forces denied having any connection with the incident. In NATO operations conducted without coordination with Afghan forces, civilians are the main victims.

In a similar incident last week, NATO soldiers had shot dead 2 civilians and arrested 3 others in Surkhroad district of the eastern Nangarhar province. The spokesman for the province's Police Chief had said that the operation was conducted without coordination with Afghan forces.

According to a recent report published by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), civilian casualties have increased 31 percent in the first six months of 2010. Civilian casualties have provoked tense arguments between Afghan authorities and NATO military officials.

TONY Writes:

The chief of Baghlan's Tala Wabarfak district, Mohammad Ismail, said the deaths—six men, one woman, and one child—reportedly came in the early hours of Sunday morning in the village of Tergaran. Villagers told him troops flown in aboard five or six helicopters also destroyed several houses during the five-hour operation, Ismail said. Two people were reportedly arrested and taken away he said, adding that Taliban have on occasion been active in the area, a 10-hour walk from the nearest town over which the government exercises little influence.

NATO said U.S. troops fired warning shots on Monday to disperse a protest in eastern Afghanistan over the arrest of a religious leader suspected of a rocket attack. The alliance said no civilian injuries were reported from the demonstration, but Gen. Faqir Ahmad, the deputy police chief of Parwan province, said one civilian was killed by gunfire from an unknown source. NATO said about 300 people surrounded a patrol and attacked vehicles with rocks and iron bars outside the main coalition air base at Bagram in Parwan province.

"After several attempts to stop the attack and disperse the crowd, coalition troops received small-arms fire directed at them," NATO said in a news release. Coalition forces then fired the warning shots.

Gen. Ahmad said the coalition firing enraged the crowd with some then using rocks and sticks to attack police and the head of the district government, Kabir Ahmad, who had tried to calm the situation. The deputy police chief said Ahmad and a police officer had serious but not life-threatening injuries. (Source - various newsfeeds).