US-led forces have killed two Afghan civilians and seriously injured another one in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, a foreign company announces.
The Central Asia Development Group (CADG) said Monday that the foreign forces killed two Afghan employees of the Singapore-based engineering firm last week.
CADG added that another Afghan civilian hired by the company was injured by "friendly fire" from US-led security forces on February 3.
"On February 3, 2011, a CADG vehicle, carrying four of CADG's Afghan national staff were caught in kinetic activity between ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) forces and insurgent forces on Highway 1 near Spin Masjid Bazaar, near Gereshk in Helmand Province," CADG spokesman Matthew Goldthwaite told AFP.
"As a result of this exchange, two of the passengers were killed, one passenger was seriously wounded (and) the fourth passenger was unharmed," Goldthwaite added.
"CADG was informed that ISAF have accepted responsibility for this incident... We believe it's friendly fire," he went on to say. ISAF has not yet commented on the incident.
US-led coalition forces and NATO troops in Afghanistan have been frequently criticized for the increase in civilian casualties caused by their military operations in the war-torn country.
More than 2,400 civilians lost their lives in violence across Afghanistan in 2010, marking the deadliest year for ordinary Afghans, a human rights watchdog said last week.
Civilian casualties have long been a source of friction between the Afghan government and 150,000-strong US-led foreign forces.
The loss of civilian lives at the hand of foreign forces has dramatically heightened anti-American sentiments in Afghanistan, causing thousands of Afghans to protest against US-led military presence in the Asian country.
No comments:
Post a Comment