KABUL: At least 85 civilians were killed in a NATO air strike at Panjwai village in the southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan on Tuesday night, an official and a witness told Xinhua on Thursday.

Bismillah Afghanmal, member of the provincial council, said the victims included women and children. He said there was no information of Taliban casualties.

According to locals, 20 civilians were rushed to hospital in Kandahar city. But doctors reached by Xinhua declined comment.

However, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement on Wednesday that 48 insurgents were killed in the raid. It admitted that ``ISAF has since received credible reports that there were a number of civilian casualties including women and children.''

Focus of operations

The statement said ISAF could confirm that four civilians were injured in the raid.

``ISAF has been informed that the Afghan Ministry of Defence is sending a delegation to the region to investigate these incidents and ISAF will fully cooperate with this investigation.''

Zhari and Panjwai districts, about 40 km west of Kandahar city, are the birthplaces of the fundamentalist Taliban movement and strongholds of militants.

The two districts were also the focus of a major ISAF military operation in September named Operation Medusa, during which ISAF said at least 500 insurgents were killed.

The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said it ``is very concerned by reports that a great number of civilians may have died during the conduct of military operations'' in the NATO raid.

Foreign military action caused civilian casualties in Afghanistan from time to time.

The U.S.-led coalition forces killed seven civilians in an operation in the eastern Kunar province in April. In July 2002, a U.S. air strike in the southern Uruzgan province killed 48 civilians and wounded 117, many of them at a wedding party. — Xinhua

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail