Kandahar/Kabul - At least 16 civilians, including women and
children, were killed in an airstrike by NATO-led forces in
Afghanistan's eastern Nuristan province, officials said Saturday.
Tamim Nuristani, the governor of the province, said the civilians
were killed as they were travelling out of the area after an
announcement by security forces that civilians should leave ahead of
an operation against Taliban insurgents.
'The victims included two women, two children and workers and
shopkeepers travelling in two vehicles,' Nuristani said, adding, 'Two
doctors and a female nurse were also killed in the incident.'
The operation took place in the Waigal district, the governor
said, adding he would go to the capital Kabul to complain to
President Hamid Karzai and to meet with the commanders of foreign
forces.
Meanwhile an Afghan parliamentarian and renowned chieftain from
the southern Kandahar province was assassinated overnight by unknown
gunmen.
Regarding the assassination of Wolasi Jirga (Parliament) member
Haji Habibullah Sanzani, Kandahar Provincial Council chief Ahmad Wali
Karzai, brother of President Karzai, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur
dpa: 'I only confirm that unknown armed men shot dead the parliament
member in Zherai district but there is no further detail in this
regard.'
According to Ahmad Wali, an investigation is underway to find out
who is behind the incident.
Afghan Mal, a member of the Provincial Council, also confirmed the
murder and told dpa that unidentified gunmen on a motorbike gunned
down Haji Habibullah in the village of Sanzari in Zherai district
Friday night.
'After the killing of Haji Habibullah, the killers escaped,'
Afghan Mal added. He said no-one has so far admitted responsibility
for the attack.
Habibullah is the tenth parliament member to be killed. Six other
parliamentarians were killed in a bomb explosion in the northern
Baghlan province last year.
Taliban militants rejected any involvement in the assassination of
the parliament member. Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, spokesman for the militant
group, said the Taliban didn't target the lawmaker.
The Afghan Interior Ministry in a statement said the
parliamentarian was shot dead by unknown gunmen around midnight while
coming out from his home in the Sanzai area of Zherai district.
'Police sources said so far it is not clear what is the reason and
who are involved behind this killing,' said the statement.
The statement said such killings are usually carried out by
'enemies of peace and stability.'
In other developments a militant commander by the name of Mullah
Nizamuddin was killed in a US-led coalition forces operation,
officials of the interior ministry said Saturday.
Dr Abdul Hakim Ashir, chief of the Media and Public Relations
Department in the interior ministry, told dpa that 'information
available from Jaghatu district of Wardak province says that Mullah
Nizamuddin was killed in a coalition forces operation late Friday
night.'
Initial information said that Nizamuddin was involved in the
kidnapping of two German engineers in the same district last year,
Ashir said, adding, 'Coalition forces arrested five others in the
area.'
One of the engineers who were conducting a dam survey in the area
was killed and the other freed along with five Afghans after three
months in captivity.
Meanwhile over a dozen militants were killed following an attack
by US-led coalition forces in eastern Nuristan province Friday
afternoon.
A military statement released from Bagram military base said: 'The
helicopter crews coordinated with ground forces to positively
identify the militants' vehicle and the helicopters destroyed the two
vehicles, killing more than a dozen militants.'
There were no official reports of civilian casualties in the
incident, the statement said, adding however that 'we are aware
through media reports that there are allegations of civilian
casualties. We are engaging with Afghan officials on this matter.'
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