<p>KUNDUZ CITY (Pajhwok): Five people, including a <a href="/en/hezb-i-islami" class="glossify-link">Hezb-i-Islami</a> (HIA) commander, have been killed in an airstrike by foreign forces in northern Kunduz province, residents and relatives said on Friday.</p>
<p>The victims belonged to the Mamakhel area of Chahar Dara district. The overnight air raid occurred in Dasht-i-Archi district. As a mark of protest, relatives brought the bodies to Kunduz City.</p>
<p>A tribal elder from the area, Nek Mohammad, told Pajhwok Afghan News Haji Ghulam Rabbani and Ghulam Gilani had come from Chahar Dara to participate in a relative’s funeral in Dasht-i-Archi.</p>
<p>On their way back home, the elder said, they were killed in a drone strike in a government-controlled area. He insisted the victims were pro-government people.</p>
<p>Nek Mohammad added the dead included two tribal elders, as many <a href="/en/women" class="glossify-link">women</a> and a boy. The men had no links with any militant outfit, he explained.</p>
<p>HIA leader Gulbadin Hekmatyar’s son Habibur Rahman Hekmatyar wrote on his Facebook page the men killed in the air raid were his maternal uncles.</p>
<p>The men were killed along with their spouses and children, the HIA leader’s son alleged. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, a spokesman for the US Forces-Afghanistan said: “We are aware of the reports of civilian casualties reported to have occurred on Jan. 30. We are looking into these reports and will provide more information when it becomes available.”</p>
<p>mud</p>
