Air raids kill 9 soldiers in E. Afghanistan
22/10/2008 17:25
Nine Afghan soldiers were killed and three others injured as the
international troops carried out air strikes against suspected Taliban hideouts
in Afghanistan's eastern province of Khost early today, Afghan Defense Ministry
said in a press release.
"The international troops carried out air raids at 2
a.m. local time (2130 GMT) in Syed Khil district resultantly leaving nine
soldiers dead and three others wounded," the press release added without further
elaboration.
Lutfullah Babakerkhil the district chief of Duamanda told Xinhua
that the incident occurred early morning in the above district when the US-led
Coalition forces carried out strikes killing eight soldiers and wounding five
others including a civilian.
He asserted that the air raid took place when a
military operation against militants was underway in the area.
Meanwhile, the
US -led Coalition forces in a statement confirmed that Coalition forces "may
have mistakenly killed and injured Afghan National Army soldiers last night in
Khowst province."
"As a Coalition forces convoy was returning from a previous
operation, they were involved in multiple engagements," it said, " as a result
of the engagements, ANA soldiers were killed and injured."
However, it did
not disclose the number of killed and injured.
Such mistakes during military
operations have claimed hundreds of lives over the past seven years and the
bloodiest one in 2008 left 91 non-combatants in the western Herat province in
August which triggered a widespread protest across the war-torn
country.
Conflicts and Taliban-related militancy have claimed the lives of
more than 4,500 people mostly insurgents, according to officials so far this
year in Afghanistan.
Xinhua
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