AFGHANISTAN: US-led coalition bomb kills 11 civilians

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Att.Editors: The following item is from the Qatar News Agency (QNA)

BAGRAM, Apr 9 2003 (IPS) - A total of 11 Afghan civilians including seven women and four men were killed by a US-led coalition bombing early on Wednesday in eastern Afghanistan.

The Afghan civilians were killed when a bomb dropped by coalition aircraft slammed into a house on the outskirts of Shkin near the Pakistan border, according to Douglas Lefforge, a spokesman at the US military headquarters at Bagram air base north of Kabul.

Shkin is in Afghanistan’s Paktika province.

Besides these four men and seven women killed, a man was also wounded.

In February, officials in Afghanistan’s Helmand province said at least 17 civilians were killed when coalition aircraft bombed a mountain base believed to be sheltering Taliban fighters.

Last July, more than 48 civilians were killed and over 100 wounded when a US gunship fired on a wedding party in the central town of Deh Rawud, according to villagers and Afghan officials. The US military said its gunship had come under anti-aircraft fire from the area.