Sixty children were killed in air strikes by US-led coalition warplanes in western Afghanistan last week, a UN investigation has found. UN investigators said they had discovered “convincing evidence” that a total of 90 Afghan civilians died in the incident.
The toll, potentially the worst since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001, could wreck relations between the Afghan government and NATO forces, which were already under severe strain over civilian casualties and strategy in the counter-insurgency against the Taliban.
The government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered that any military operation by foreign forces on its territory be subject to a new set of rules enforceable under international law.
Kai Eide, the UN special envoy to Afghanistan who ordered the investigation, said the incident could undermine the faith of Afghans in international efforts to stabilize the country.
Military sources said the air strikes last Thursday on the Shindand district of Herat Province were carried out not by the NATO force attempting to bolster Karzai’s government, but as part of a parallel US mission targeting al-Qaeda and Taliban militants.
US officials initially said that the air strikes were aimed at a Taliban stronghold and had killed 30 jihadis.
In his report, Eide said investigators from the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan found that up to eight houses in the village of Nawabad were destroyed in the raids and many others damaged.
Meanwhile, an air strike killed 30 Taliban in southeastern Afghanistan close to the border with Pakistan and Afghan police killed 18 more militants in the south of the country, officials said yesterday.
International troops called in the air strike in which 30 Taliban fighters were killed after the militants attacked a convoy of foreign troops and Afghan forces in Paktika Province on Tuesday, the deputy provincial governor said.
Also on Tuesday, 18 Taliban were killed in a clash with police in southern Helmand Province the provincial police chief said.
A German soldier was killed and three injured in an attack by militant forces in northern Afghanistan, German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung said yesterday.
The soldiers were hit by an explosion near the city of Kunduz. It was initially unclear exactly what kind of device caused the blast, German officials said.
Japan pledged yesterday to continue with its assistance in Afghanistan after authorities said a Japanese aid worker had been killed.
Afghan authorities said they found the bullet-riddled body of Kazuya Ito, 31, an agriculture specialist for a Japanese non-governmental group who was kidnapped the day before.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
STORM’S PATH: Kong-Rey could be the first typhoon to make landfall in Taiwan in November since Gilda in 1967. Taitung-Green Island ferry services have been halted Tropical Storm Kong-rey is forecast to strengthen into a typhoon early today and could make landfall in Taitung County between late Thursday and early Friday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, Kong-Rey was 1,030km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the nation’s southernmost point, and was moving west at 7kph. The tropical storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126 kph, CWA data showed. After landing in Taitung, the eye of the storm is forecast to move into the Taiwan Strait through central Taiwan on Friday morning, the agency said. With the storm moving
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
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