Afghani Protesters Block Highway Over Civilian Killings, Nangarhar Police says NATO Coalition Forces Kill, Arrest Innocents

Afghani Protesters Block Highway Over Civilian Killings, Nangarhar Police says NATO Coalition Forces Kill, Arrest Innocents

* Bomber targets vehicle, killing district police chief, three others in Kandahar

The Daily Times, Pakistan, Thursday, August 19, 2010

JALALABAD/KABUL:

Hundreds of Afghan villagers blocked a national highway and chanted slogans against the US and the Afghan government on Wednesday to protest the alleged killing and arrest of civilians in a raid by NATO forces in the eastern Nangarhar province.

The NATO occupation forces, officially referred to as the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said that the late night operation was in pursuit of a Taliban bomb-making expert linked to at least two attacks. But Nangahar police spokesman Abdul Ghafor Khan said that two civilians had been killed when the coalition troops raided a house in Surkh Rod district, and another three people detained.

“The coalition forces went into a house and killed a father and a son. They have arrested three people. They are innocent civilians, they are farmers and are not linked to any militant group,” he said. Ghafor said that the police had contacted the interior minister and NATO to try to secure the release of those detained.

Up to 600 residents blocked the main highway in protest on Wednesday. They chanted slogans against the US as well as President Hamid Karzai. The ISAF statement said that the international force had come under fire as it approached a compound, and had killed insurgents. The operation had not killed or harmed any civilians, it said.

In Kandahar province, a suicide bomber rammed a car into a police vehicle, killing a district police chief, two other policemen and a civilian – the latest attack targeting those with links to the government or international forces. The police chief of Daman district was among those killed in the incident on a bridge leading into Kandahar city, said Dr Mohammad Rasool at the Mirwais Hospital.

Five other Afghan policemen and a civilian were wounded. The bridge, which was recently rebuilt, was the site of two bomb attacks against NATO forces in recent months. In another targeted attack in the south, Taliban insurgents on late Tuesday night broke into the home of Atta Jan Kajrwal, the Zabul province director of border and tribal affairs, killing him and his wife, said Mohammad Jan Rasoolyar, a spokesman for the governor.

Another person was injured in the attack in Shahjoy district. Violence is on the rise, especially in the south, as Afghan and international forces push into areas controlled by the Taliban. It’s part of a strategy to rout insurgents from their southern strongholds and provide security for the population to allow Afghan officials to bolster governance.

On Wednesday, NATO reported that a senior Taliban commander was among several insurgents detained in Naway-e-Barakzayi district in Helmand. The commander, who was not identified, directed military operations and handled governance issues in Taliban-controlled areas, it said. A joint coalition-Afghan force raided a compound used by the Taliban as a prison, freeing 27 Afghan civilians who were shackled and held captive, an official said.

In a separate incident, NATO said a civilian irrigating a field in the Arghandab district of Kandahar province was killed during a firefight. The coalition said the civilian was shot and killed when a joint force being attacked by insurgents returned fire. The forces planned to meet with local elders about the shooting, which remains under investigation.

Also in Kandahar, NATO said a joint force killed 10 insurgents while pursuing a Taliban commander responsible for arranging weapons deliveries. At least six insurgents who ran from a compound in Panjwai district were killed in an air strike and four others by ground forces. The joint force destroyed a weapons cache inside the compound. agencies

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