By Abdul Maqsud Azizi
Residents on Monday claimed 16 civilians were killed during an overnight joint Afghan-NATO forces’ operation in the Charkh district of central Logar province, but officials said most of the slain individuals were insurgents.
Officials said a large number of insurgents were among those killed during the joint operation.
The district chief, Khalilullah Kamal, told Pajhwok Afghan News Afghan and foreign commandos conducted the clearing operation in Shash Qala, Pangram, Qala-i-Naw, Dasht and other areas of the district.
He said nearly a dozen Taliban and one Afghan soldier were killed during the offensive and acknowledged some civilians had also suffered causalities.
Meanwhile, ISAF in a statement said 16 armed Taliban insurgents were killed in Charkh district during the past 24 hours. It said the operation led and planned by Afghan National Army’s Special Forces with a limited support from ISAF personnel.
Haji Bismillah, a tribal elder in the area, said mostly civilians were killed and wounded during the night time operation.
Another local resident Zamanuddin also accused security forces of killing civilians during the overnight raid.
Relatives of slain Afghan civilians wail next to their dead bodies in Ghazni, Afghanistan, Friday, Oct. 16, 2009. Four Afghan civilians, two men and two women from one family, were killed during an operation of coalition forces near Ghazni city, Gen. Khail Buz Sherzai, Ghazni provincial police chief said.