UN Condemns Killing of Civilians in US Drone Strike in Afghanistan
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - An airstrike designed to target ISIL militants in Nangarhar, eastern Afghanistan, has killed at least 15 civilians and injured another 13, including a child. The UN said the strike was carried out by an international drone, which only the US operates.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has condemned the killing of the civilians, calling on the Afghan government and international military forces to launch a “prompt, independent, impartial, transparent, and effective investigation into the incident.” The airstrike took place in the Achin district of the Nangarhar province, on the eastern border with Pakistan, early Wednesday morning.
The UN said the civilians had gathered in a village to celebrate the return of a tribal elder from the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca and were sleeping in a guesthouse of the elder when the airstrike took place.
"A drone targeted the house and killed most of them," Mohammed Ali, the Achin district police chief, told Reuters.
Civilian victims of the strike included students and a teacher, according to the UN.
"I saw dead and wounded bodies everywhere,” Raghon Shinwari, who was injured in the attack, told Reuters, speaking from a hospital bed in Jalalabad city.
Afghan government sources told the UN mission that Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL) personnel also died in the attack. Provincial police spokesman Hazrat Hussain Mashriqiwal confirmed that several ISIL leaders had been killed, but denied there were any noncombatants among the victims, Reuters reported.
The US military acknowledged it had conducted an aerial attack in Nangarhar, but refused to discuss the incident.
“We won't discuss the details of the specific counter-terrorism operation conducted in Nangarhar on 28 September because we are still reviewing all materials related to the strike,” it said in a statement on Wednesday.
