5 students killed in Parwan airstrike named

KABUL airstrike in the Sigard district of central Parwan province.

The airstrike took place on Wednesday in the Syedan valley’s Khaska area. Parwan police chief Brig. Gen. Mohammad Zaman Mamozai had told Pajhwok Afghan News the students were preparing to appear in the university entrance test when came under attack and killed.

The Ministry of Education in a statement said five students had been killed in the airstrike.

The victims included three 12th grade students identified as Wasiqullah, Hasamullah and Ali Gul. One 10th class student named Shahzad and an 8th grader Khairullah were among the dead, the statement said.

The statement said the Education Ministry was deeply concerned over the deaths and urged the warring parties to protect the lives of students during their operations and avoid hurting the country’s education system.

A tribal elder in Sigard, Amar Sattar, had told Pajhwok Afghan News that the five students were sitting under a clump of trees and were studying when they were hit from the air.

But ISAF in a statement had said those killed in the airstrike were enemy combatants.

Thirteen civilians have been killed and wounded in the same area last year in NATO airstrikes.

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