Kabul, February 25: US airstrikes on the village of Heelgal in the eastern Afghan province of Kunar have sparked great panic among its residents.
NATO forces were accused on Monday of killing 64 civilians in a single village during four days of air and ground attacks in the Kunar region.
The village of Heelgal was once filled with joyful cheers of children, but now it is nothing more than a graveyard after being bombed by US aircraft, which has left trails of blood behind, a Media correspondent said Thursday.
“When we arrived here, people were weeping for their loved ones killed in the raids. They were still collecting body parts for burial as many bodies were completely destroyed,” the correspondent said.
NATO has disputed the accusations saying they targeted and killed only militants, but have agreed to probe the claims.
If you visit this village, which was under US-led NATO attacks for four days, you can get a clear picture that many of the people who died here were children and women.
On Sunday, tribal elders said that NATO forces killed the civilians, including women and children who had been inside their houses.
People here say they were asleep when they came under fire. The villagers came out of their houses and hid themselves in caves to avoid the attacks. But most of them were not lucky.
These men told us that 10 children and 5 women were shot dead in one cave alone.
The latest raids of the US forces have sparked great panic among the residents of this village. Right after the raids, many of the villagers here have fled to other provinces in fear of future air strikes on their village. And those who are still here, are now living in constant fear of more attacks.
The people of this quiet village had never seen this many civilian deaths before. To them, it is now too difficult to accept that foreign troops are here to protect them. They say they cannot tolerate the presence of the Americans anymore.
President Karzai has also been shocked by the deaths. He has strongly condemned the US raids and has ordered an investigation into the deaths.
——Agencies