Residents in the northern Balkh province say seven members of a family have been killed in an airstrike in the province, calling for thorough investigation into the incident and bringing the culprits to justice.
Locals said on Sunday that the airstrike took place in the Boki area of Balkh district on Saturday evening. Children and women were among the dead, they claimed.
Haji Shah Mohammad, a resident, told Pajhwok Afghan News that two helicopters bombarded the village on Saturday evening.
According to the locals, one bomb hit a residential home, killing seven civilians. He added women and children were among the victims.
Lal Mohammad, a relative of the victim, said six women and a child were among the dead. “There were no militants in the area, where one of the choppers dropped a bomb that destroyed our house.”
A clearing operation against insurgents was launched in the area last week. The Shaheen Military Corps claimed inflicting huge casualties on militants.
Meanwhile, local security officials refused to comment on the air raid or civilian casualties resulting from it.
This comes as US negotiators and Taliban representatives in their Qatar office have been discussing a reduction in violence ahead of signing the potential deal for American forces withdrawal from Afghanistan. US State Department Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Alice Wells has recently said that US negotiators had been encouraging Taliban to agree to a reduction in violence.
Taliban say they are ready for reduction in violence to facilitate the smooth pullout of foreign forces, including American troops, but the Afghan government has recently changed its stance, stressing on ceasefire as precondition for peace talks. It says the reduction in violence does not have an exact military and legal definition and is not practical.
