After Deadly Insider Attack, U.S. Airstrikes Kill 14 Civilians, Afghans Say
Men standing over the bodies of people they said were killed during a military operation on Saturday in Kunduz Province, Afghanistan.CreditBashir Khan Safi/Associated Press
[IMG]https://static01.********/images/2019/03/23/world/23afghanistan/merlin_152500086_a89c1780-bf2a-465f-a561-fab0ae12beb1-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upsc ale[/IMG]
Men standing over the bodies of people they said were killed during a military operation on Saturday in Kunduz Province, Afghanistan.CreditCreditBashir Khan Safi/Associated Press
By Najim Rahim, Rod Nordland and Fahim Abed
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan — After the second firefight in the past 10 days between American soldiers and their Afghan allies, at least 14 civilians, most of them women and children, were killed in an airstrike on Saturday in northern Kunduz province, according to Afghan officials. At least four Afghan soldiers were also killed.
A spokeswoman for the American military confirmed the attack, but blamed the outcome on the Taliban.
“We are fighting in a complex environment and this firefight is a prime example of the challenges Afghan and coalition forces face every day,” said Sgt. 1st Class Debra Richardson. “The Taliban were hiding in civilian homes and maneuvered in and out of compounds without any concern for the families living inside.”
The episode on Saturday
came a day after two members of an American Special Forces unit and four Afghan Special Forces soldiers were killed during a joint operation in Gul Tepa District, on the outskirts of Kunduz city, and involved some of the same forces, according to Afghan official accounts. The insurgents were reportedly massing on the outskirts of the city, which they have twice overrun,
in 2015 and
in 2016.
The latest episode began around 3 a.m. Saturday, after a convoy of American and Afghan Special Forces left the area of the previous day’s combat and an armored vehicle used by the Americans broke down as they were heading to a security checkpoint. When the soldiers got out to fix the vehicle, an Afghan soldier nearby opened fire on them; Afghan officials described him as a Taliban insider who deliberately provoked the attack.
The Americans fired back at the attacker, and Afghan soldiers stationed in a nearby outpost returned fire at them, not realizing what had happened, according to Mohammed Ibrahim, the commander of Afghan Local Police in Kunduz Province, who described it as an accident set off by the insider who first opened fire.
Connect With Us