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US military drone - Source: ONE News -
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A NATO airstrike in Afghanistan mistakenly killed 27 civilians,
the government said, hurting a campaign to win over the local
population and defeat Taliban insurgents.
The Afghan cabinet condemned the killings as unjustifiable after an
aircraft fired on civilians, mistaking them for insurgents, in the
south near the border of Uruzgan and Dai Kondi provinces.
Civilian casualties have caused friction between the government and
foreign forces, who have launched two big offensives in the past
eight months in a bid to turn the tide of a growing Taliban-led
insurgency.
Initially the Afghan cabinet reported 33 deaths, but later
clarified that 27 had died.
Sunday's toll was still the highest number of civilian deaths in
months.
The incident was not part of Operation Mushtarak, a major NATO-led
campaign to clear Taliban militants out of neighbouring Helmand
province in the south.
Nonetheless, it could still undermine government and NATO efforts
to win over civilians under a plan to wrest control of Taliban
bastions and hand them over to state authorities before the start
of a gradual US troop withdrawal in 2011.
"Initial reports indicate that NATO fired Sunday on a convoy of
three vehicles ... killing at least 27 civilians, including four
women and one child, and injuring 12 others," the Afghan cabinet
said in a statement.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in
a statement civilians had been killed as they approached a joint
NATO-Afghan unit, but did not say how many.
An investigation has begun, it said.
"We are extremely saddened by the tragic loss of innocent lives,"
US General Stanley McChrystal, commander of NATO forces in
Afghanistan, said in the ISAF statement.
"I have made it clear to our forces that we are here to protect the
Afghan people and inadvertently killing or injuring civilians
undermines their trust and confidence in our mission."
McChrystal's counter-insurgency strategy emphasises seizing
population centres and avoiding combat in built-up areas whenever
possible to avert civilian deaths.
The number of civilians killed by NATO troops has declined since
he took command in mid-2009.
US Marines say they have been extra careful not to put civilians at
risk in their assault in Marjah in Helmand, Afghanistan's most
violent province.
This has at times prevented them from acting more
decisively.
At least 12 people were killed in a poorly targeted rocket strike
the day after Operation Mushtarak started this month.
A total of 21 civilians have died in the NATO offensive, ISAF said.
While NATO forces appear to have made significant progress in
the offensive - a test of US President Barack Obama's troop surge
strategy - their push to clear out the Taliban has at times
backfired.
"People still complain about how the house searches are being
conducted. The joint forces should not view every person here with
suspicion of being a Taliban or a relative of one," said Abdur
Rahman Saber, head of a local council established before the Marjah
offensive to monitor the plight of civilians.
"When the government and its foreign allies want the people on
their side, they should respect every resident here. People should
not feel any sense of insecurity from Afghan or foreign
troops."
NATO and Afghan forces still are still under pressure to clear out remaining Taliban fighters, and prevent others from coming back to Marjah, a poppy cultivation centre which Western countries say funds the insurgency.
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