Kabul, Oct 1 (EFE).- At least 10 Afghan civilians, mostly children, were killed and nine others injured in bombings in the eastern province of Kunar and southern Helmand province early Thursday, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said.
“UNAMA has confirmed that at least 10 civilians were killed, most of them children, and 9 people injured in airstrikes carried out in #Afghanistan’s Kunar and Helmand provinces earlier today,” the UN mission said.
On the ground, Nasir Musafar, a resident of Chogam village, described to EFE the impact of one of the pre-dawn attacks on the home of a local shepherd.
“We were sleeping and, when we woke up, we saw dust rising from this man’s house. When we went there, we discovered that he had died along with his nephew and his four children,” he said.
The witness added that the attack also killed most of the family’s livestock.
“He had more than 100 animals, including sheep, goats, cows and some donkeys. Almost all of them died,” Musafar said.
“We call on everyone to pay attention to the suffering of these innocent victims,” he appealed to the international community.
The UN casualty toll contradicts the account given hours earlier by the Pakistani government, which said its forces had killed 22 “terrorists” linked to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in what it described as “selective” attacks.
Islamabad said it had taken the utmost precautions to “ensure that no collateral damage occurred.”
For its part, the de facto Taliban government in Kabul, which had initially reported that nine civilians were killed in the attacks, condemned the strikes as a “crime” and an “aggression.”
This further escalates tensions between the two neighboring countries, which have repeatedly accused each other of allowing armed groups to use their territory to launch cross-border attacks.
Pakistan has for years accused Kabul of harboring the “Fitna al Khwarij,” its term for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Taliban, however, denies allowing Afghan territory to be used to attack other countries.
“Civilians continue to be affected by cross-border hostilities,” UNAMA said, calling for “de-escalation, dialogue, respect for international law and prevention of further harm.” EFE
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