Nangarhar (May 29, 2018): Afghan forces have mistakenly killed nine people, most of them civilians, during a raid on a house in eastern Nangarhar province which has been a base for Isis and other militants, officials said.
The raid, which took place late on Monday night in Chaparhar district, also wounded eight other civilians, said provincial governor Hayatullah Hayat. A local police commander was among the dead, he added.
The victims were related to Afghan Senate chairman Fazel Hadi Muslimyaar, provincial spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told media.
“A delegation from Kabul has been sent to Nangarhar to investigate the incident,” he added. The provincial health director confirmed the dead and wounded were brought to local hospitals in Jalalabad.
Details of the attack late Monday in Chaparhar district remained unclear and there was no immediate comment from the defence ministry.
Civilian casualties remain high in Afghanistan´s grinding conflict with more than 10,000 killed or wounded in 2017, according to the UN.
But pro-government forces, including international troops, were responsible for 20 percent of the civilian casualties last year — a seven percent increase from 2016.
The increase was partly due to a growing number of aerial bombings by Afghan and foreign forces, the UN said. The US is the only international force known to be carrying out air strikes in Afghanistan.
Earlier this month President Ashraf Ghani apologized after the UN released a blistering report into an Afghan Air Force strike in Kunduz on April 2 which killed 36 people including 30 children.
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