Alwaght-A deadly US air strike in the western Herat province of Afghanistan on Monday killed 13 civilians and 16 militants, officials confirmed on Tuesday.
Jailani Farhad, spokesman for the provincial governor has confirmed that U.S. forces conducted an aerial raid on Taliban targets in the Bakhtabad area of the restive Shindand district on Monday.
He said 16 Taliban militants, including two top commanders, were killed and four more wounded. “Unfortunately, 13 civilians were martyred and seven others were wounded in this raid,” he said, adding up to 19 civilians were also freed from Taliban captors following the raid.
The governor’s spokesman said investigations into the incident were underway.
Meanwhile, the former Afghan President Hamid Karzai strongly reacted at the civilian deaths in the hands of the Taliban and ISIS insurgents as well as the US airstrike.
The Office of the former President in a statement said Tuesday that once again the ordinary civilians including children lost their lives or were wounded in US airstrike in Bakhtabad.
The statement further added that some ordinary civilians were killed in a similar airstrike in Chahardara district of northern Kunduz province.
Two days ago in Kabul’s Imam Zaman mosque inflicted casualties to the civilians including women and children, Karzai said, adding that on Tuesday a suicide attack once again inflicted casualties to the civilians in Kabul.
Karzai further added that the civilians are one day killed in the cities from the address of ISIS and Taliban while the other day they are killed in the villages under the pretext of the fight against Taliban and ISIS and the killing of the Afghans continue.
According to Karzai, the latest killings of the civilians prove that the Afghans are being killed by the foreigners and a foreign cause.
He insisted that the Afghans must remain vigilant against such conspiracies and only unity and vigilance among the people can thwart the conspiracies and lead to peace and stability in the country.
