Kabul, September 08: The Taliban on Monday called on the international community to shed full light on a NATO air raid that killed dozens of people in Afghanistan last week, branding the incident a crime.
Friday’s air strike in the country’s northern Kunduz province killed 54 people, according to local officials, who say the dead were mostly Taliban fighters. Other sources, however, put the toll far higher.
A German defence ministry spokesman said the strike targeted two petrol trucks that had been kidnapped by the Taliban and which the German military feared would be used for a huge attack. He insisted the attacks had been “militarily necessary and correct”.
A Taliban statement sent by email lists the names and professions of 79 civilians who it claimed died in the attack.
An earlier statement had put the number of killed civilians at 150.
“Without any doubt a big crime… has been committed in Kunduz province and civilians have been targeted,” said the statement.
“International law, the Charter of the United Nations and the Geneva Conventions are very clear on such crimes,” the Taliban said.
“If the United Nations, Amnesty International and human rights organisations … really recognize human rights or hold them important, then the truth and the lies will be known in this affair,” the document added.
–Agencies