10 civilians killed in Helmand raid, admits governor

LASHKARGAH (Pajhwok): Afghan commando forces killed at least 10 civilians, mostly children, in a nighttime raid in the Greshk district of southern Helmand province, the governor said on Monday.

Hayatullah Hayat told a press conference here the Afghan army’s commando forces carried out the raid last night on a Taliban hideout in Malgir locality of Greshk district.   

“The commando forces exploded some materials in a house that caused the house to collapse, in which ten people including children were killed.”  The governor said the incident would be seriously investigated and the findings shared with the media soon.

A relative of the victim family, Mohammad Idrees, said there was a Taliban centre near the house, but the Taliban had left the area before the operation started.

Then the security forces carried out a blast inside the Taliban centre, causing the nearby house to collapse. It killed nine members of the family, Idrees said.  The dead included four children, two women, two men and a 70 year-old man.

Lt. Col. Mohammad Rasool Zazai, 215^th Maiwand Military Corps spokesman, told Pajhwok Afghan News no armed clash had taken place in the Greshk district and the civilians were likely killed in a landmine blast by the Taliban.

Separately, a woman was killed and a child was wounded on Monday when security personnel opened fire at a civilian car on the Helmand-Kandahar highway.

Abdul Nasir, a relative of the family, told the governor that operative forces opened fire on their car, killing his wife and injuring his son. The governor assured him of serious investigation into the incident and punishing the perpetrators. 

Helmand is Afghanistan’s most insecure province where the Taliban are in control of six districts of the total 13.

kh/ma