By Sayed Khodaberdi Sadat
KABUL, Afghanistan (AA): U.S. airstrikes killed at least 4 civilians in Afghanistan on Monday, a local said.
Army regiment spokesman Mohamed Hanif Rezai told Anadolu Agency that the NATO-led U.S. drone strike targeted a Taliban camp in the Kurgan district of northern Faryab province.
Rezai said 14 militants were killed in the airstrikes, adding he has no further information about civilian casualties.
Local resident Ihsan Makhdoum told Anadolu Agency that he lost his father and three relatives in the attack.
The Taliban have not made a statement on the issue.
US led airstrikes have killed a large number of civilians in Afghanistan.
On November 24, most members of Qarara’s extended family were killed or wounded when one airstrike called in by American forces slammed into their home in Nad-e-Ali, a village in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province. Her husband, Obaidullah, and one of Ehsanullah’s older brothers, Esmatullah, died, she said. Thirteen others were injured. Qarara was hit by shrapnel and debris
On November 27, a resident of the area called Mohammadullah said foreign forces bombed the area and the bombs hit his brother’s house. He said women and 16 children were among the dead.
“The area is under the control of Taliban, but all of the victims of last night’s bombing are civilians,” he said.
At least 30 Afghan civilians have been killed in US air strikes in the Afghan province of Helmand.
In the first 10 months of 2018, U.S. military aircraft dropped 5,982 munitions on the country, surpassing the total for 2017, which stood at 4,361,according to U.S. Central Command data.
Meanwhile during the first nine months of 2018, the U.N. recorded 2,798 civilian deaths and 5,252 injured, a total of 8,050 casualties, the highest number in four years.
More civilians die at the hands of militants than in any other attacks. Aerial operations, such as the one that devastated the family in Helmand, have accounted for less than 10 percent of the total casualties this year. That figure is a sharp 39 percent increase from 2017, a recent U.N. report found.
The U.S. is a part of NATO’s Resolute Support Mission (RSM) — launched in January 2015 — to train advise and assist the Afghan security forces and institutions.
Additional report The Muslim News
[Photo: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani (R) meets with Mark Milley (right 3), The U.S. Army’s chief of staff Mark Milley (left 3) and accompanied delegation in Kabul, Afghanistan on January 04, 2019. Photograph: Afghan Presidency Press Office / Handout/AA]