U.S. Airstrikes in Afghanistan Are Said to Kill 16 Civilians
11, 2017
JALALABAD, Afghanistan — Afghan officials said on Friday
that American warplanes killed 16 civilians as they tried to flee an area in eastern Afghanistan controlled by Islamic State militants, but the United States military insisted the dead had been extremist fighters.
It was a clear area, and they should understand that people in the vehicle are civilians, as the car was a civilian car." Mr. Khan added, "But it was God’s will, so we cannot say anything." On July 24,
Afghan officials said, nine civilians were killed in an American airstrike on a prayer ceremony held in Haska Meena, near the border with Pakistan, by relatives of ISIS members who had been killed.
The United States military has deployed Special Forces
and airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Afghanistan and says it has killed dozens of the group’s leaders and hundreds of fighters this year.
The latest victims died Thursday afternoon when the vehicles they were traveling in were hit by American
airstrikes believed to be targeting Islamic State militants in the area, Mr. Wali said.
The Islamic State fighters are believed to be relatively few,
and in the Nangarhar area they fight against both the Afghan government and the more numerous Taliban insurgents.
It was the second time since July 24 that an airstrike in that district killed civilians, according to Afghan officials.