Afghanistan: US air raid said to kill 13 civilians

By Shadi Khan Saif

KABUL, Afghanistan (AA) – As local Afghan officials and media alleged a U.S. air raid on Thursday killed 13 members of a family in a province bordering Uzbekistan, the national army said those killed in the raid were Taliban fighters.

Mohammad Nusrat, a member of the Kunduz provincial council, told Anadolu Agency the airstrike in the Chahar Dara district killed 13 members of a family and wounded six. Zalmay Farooqi, district governor, claimed that 22 people – including Taliban rebels and civilians – were killed in the raid this afternoon.

But local Salam Afghanistan radio quoted local Saifuddin Aziz, commander of the Afghan National Army, saying that Afghan and U.S. forces launched joint offensives against the rebels in the district, and those killed are Taliban fighters.

In May, in an unprecedented move, Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani publicly apologized for a similar deadly air raid in the province. According to the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), the April 2 raid in Kunduz claimed at least 36 lives and wounded 71.