Afghan women and children were among those killed on July 23 when North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led troops launched a rocket attack on a house in the village of Rigi in the Sangin district of Helmand, Karzai said in a statement issued by his office in Kabul today. He cited reports by the National Directorate of Security for the incident.
Lt Comdr. Katie Kendrick, a spokeswoman for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, rejected Karzai’s version of events. While ISAF forces did conduct an operation in Sangin district, it was “far from the village,” where ISAF had “no operational activity,” Kendrick said in an interview.
ISAF is investigating the alleged civilian deaths, Carmen Romero, a spokeswoman at NATO headquarters in Brussels, said by phone. She said she had nothing to add to a statement issued by NATO on July 24 disputing “media allegations” of civilian deaths, saying that it had “no operational reporting that correlates to this alleged incident.”
President Barack Obama took office last year vowing to reduce civilian deaths in Afghanistan even as he committed more troops to the fight against Taliban insurgents in what is now the longest U.S. war in history. Afghan police said July 7 that at least five Afghan soldiers died in a “friendly fire” strike by NATO aircraft, as the troops were preparing to ambush Taliban guerrillas.
The July 23 incident also involved combat between NATO forces and Taliban fighters, Shamsullah Sarayee, a tribal elder in Sangin district, said by telephone today.
People in the village “tried to save their lives” by sheltering in a house, he said. More than 50 civilians died when a rocket struck the building in which they were taking cover, he said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Eltaf Najafizada in Kabul, Afghanistan at enajafizada1@bloomberg.net
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