An Afghan delegation led by Abdul Qayum Salarzai, spy head of defense ministry, has been assigned and sent to Nimroz to probe into civilian casualties who were allegedly killed and wounded in an overnight airstrike in Nimroz province on Saturday, the ministry said in a statement.
At President Ghani’s order, the delegation will thoroughly investigate into the incident and share the findings with the ministry, it added.
The ministry earlier on Tuesday said in a statement that as many as nine “Pakistani terrorists” and five Taliban fighters were killed and another five “local” Taliban fighters were wounded after Afghan Air Forces carried out an air raid on a Taliban hideout in Khashrod district.
Provincial officials however on Sunday claimed at least 18 civilians were killed and many others wounded in the airstrike.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani expressed his condolences over the alleged civilian casualties in the air raid and ordered government officials to thoroughly probe into the incident and share the findings with his office.
In a statement released by his office Monday, President Ghani ordered Afghan Security and Defense Forces to “exercise utmost caution” while conducting operations in bids to contain civilian casualties.
President Ghani pointed the blame at Taliban, saying the Taliban and other terrorist groups use civilian houses and public places as “shield” which is considered to be the “main driver” of civilian deaths and injuries.
“Civilian casualties are the misfortunes of the current war,” the statement quoted President Ghani, and “are unacceptable and intolerable” for both the president and other government officials.
Intensified hostilities have been inflicting heavy casualties on combatants from both sides even as the negotiating representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban have gathered in Doha to push for bringing the war of Afghanistan to an end.
Afghan government’s peace negotiation team met with the Taliban representatives Saturday this week to resume peace talks with the Taliban after a three-week break.
In the first round of talks which lasted for three months, negotiators from the two sides agreed on a code of conduct for the talks.
Follow TKG on Twitter & Facebook
