US denies attack victims were civilians

Source: Agencies  |   2008-7-6  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

THE United States military said air strikes by its attack helicopters hit two vehicles carrying insurgents in eastern Afghanistan. However, they have denied claims by the province's governor that 22 civilians, including a woman and a child, were killed in the strike.

A spokesman for the US-led coalition said on Friday that the air strikes in Nuristan Province hit militants who earlier attacked an American military base with mortars.

The helicopters identified the militants' firing positions, tracked them down and destroyed the vehicles they were traveling in, said First Lieutenant Nathan Perry.

"These were combatants. These were people who were firing on us," Perry said. "We have no reports of noncombatant injuries."

However, Nuristan's Governor Tamim Nuristani said 22 civilians were killed in the Waygal District of Nuristan Province. "This afternoon (Friday), two civilian vehicles were hit by air strikes," he said.

Among those killed were a woman and a child. All 22 bodies were brought to a provincial hospital, Nuristani said. Seven people were wounded.

"Last night, the opposition fired rockets at the (US) base ... and today this incident happened," said Nuristani, speaking from Kabul.

It was impossible to independently verify any of the claims because of the remoteness of the area.

In other violence, gunmen lobbed a grenade and sprayed a police checkpoint with gunfire in southern Kandahar Province, killing eight officers, said provincial police chief Sumanwal Matiullah.

Overall, more than 8,000 people were killed in insurgency-related attacks in Afghanistan last year - the most since the 2001 US-led invasion. Violence has claimed more than 2,100 lives so far this year.