Helmand Air raid Leaves 40 Civilians Dead
KABUL (MEP) – Helmand provincial council members say at least 40 civilians, including women and children, were killed and 13 others were wounded in a night air raid in Musa Qala district.
The event happened last midnight in Shawaruz area of Musa Qala district when people were celebrating a wedding, MEP reports.
Helmand provincial council member Abdul Majid Akhundzadah says foreign and national forces carried out an air raid on a wedding party.
40 civilians, including women and children, were killed and 13 others were wounded, he further said.
Akhundzadeh added there were 15 family members among the dead in the incident.
Meanwhile, Helmand provincial spokesman Omar Zowak says Afghan security forces in cooperation with foreign troops conducted a special night operation on Musa Qala district.
He said 15 armed Taliban members were killed and their ammunition depot was exploded in the operation.
Zowak also confirmed civilian casualties, but said it was not known so far that either it was due to airstrikes or Taliban depot explosion.
But in an interview with the Middle East Press, Abdul Majid Akhundzadah said the operation took place on two areas in Musa Qala district, one of which targeted a wedding and the other targeted Taliban positions.
The Ministry of Defense stated that at least 22 foreign Taliban fighters were killed during operations in Mosa Qala district, and that a Taliban weapons cache was destroyed.
Five Pakistanis and one Bangladeshi citizen were among the arrested, the MoD statement said
The security sources and NATO Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan have not yet commented on civilian casualties.
