Kabul, February 28: The Afghan government confirms that the US-led military alliance has killed scores of civilians during recent operations in the northeastern part of the country.
The Afghan arsaid its probe had found the US-led foreign forces killed 65 civilians, many of them children in Kunar Province. The report was also presented at the meeting of National Security Council on Sunday.
“Those killed during the operations including 10 women, 15 men and 40 children,” the report said.
Sources say civilians were killed in the volatile region on February 17.
Karzai has now ordered his security chiefs to discuss the issue with the foreign forces.
A spokesman for NATO has said its assessment only found that five to seven civilians might have been injured.
This is not the first time Afghan civilians have been killed in attacks by the US-led foreign forces.
Thousands of Afghan people have so far lost their lives due to military operations by foreign troops since the 2001, US-led invasion.
Afghan officials including President Hamid Karzai have repeatedly called for an end to attacks on civilians.
In a separate development, at least 10 people have been killed and 17 more were injured in two bomb explosions in the country’s south.
Local officials say the blasts happened within minutes of each other in Kandahar Province.
They struck as people had gathered to watch a dog-fight. Eight of the dead were civilians and the other two were police officers.
Police blame the attacks on Taliban militants.
A third explosion in the same province targeted foreign troops but there were no reports of casualties.
Meanwhile, Taliban militants say they’ve arrested a Canadian citizen in the province of Ghazni. They have identified the man as Colin Mackenzie and accuse him of espionage.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid says there is evidence to prove the Canadian national has been involved in spying activities. He says a video of Mackenzie will be released in the near future.
Violence has significantly increased in Afghanistan despite the presence of some 150,000 US-led soldiers there. Over 100 people have lost their lives in bombings across the country over the past few weeks.
——Agencies