KABUL, Afghanistan
At least 150 civilians including 101 students were killed when United states backed Afghan troops made bombing on a religious seminary.The UN mission in Afghanistan on Tuesday announced it was investigating the bombing of a religious seminary by the Afghan military in northern Kunduz province Monday that reportedly left dozens of civilians dead.
While the Afghan officials insist the air raid only killed suspected militants, the Taliban armed group and local media outlets said over 100 civilians were killed in the deadly air raid on the religious seminary, which was adjacent to a mosque, in Taliban-controlled area of Dasht-e-Archi district.
“Human rights team on ground establishing facts. All parties reminded of obligations to protect civilians from impact of armed conflict,” the UNAMA said in a brief statement as the incident sent shockwaves across the country.
In a statement, the military on Monday said an alleged gathering of the Taliban’s “Quetta Shura” -- one of the Taliban's main Pakistan-based committee -- had been hit during an air raid this morning in Dasht-e-Archi district.
“In the air raids by the Afghan Air Force at around 11 a.m. [0630 GMT], 15 Taliban terrorists, including member of the Quetta Shura, Mawlawi Baryal, were killed and 10 others wounded,” the statement had said.
However, the Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahed, contradicted the government claim, tweeting that at least 150 people, including religious scholars and children had been killed in the raid on Darul Uloom Hashimya.
Human Rights Watch Senior Researcher Patricia Gossman told Anadolu Agency the reports about civilian casualties were “very troubling”.
An attack targeting a crowded religious school raises clear concerns about disproportionate loss of civilian life, Gossman said.
“Unfortunately, what we’re seeing as part of the escalation in the air campaign against the Taliban is that the Afghan forces are not always taking the precautions they should to minimize harm to civilians, especially in situations like Dasht-e Archi which has seen intense fighting over the past weeks,” she said.
Backed by American military’s airpower, the Afghan forces have launched an extensive military campaign against the Taliban who have so far not responded to the landmark peace offer extended by President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani in February.
Kunduz remains one of the strongest bastions for the Taliban. Provincial capital of the province twice briefly fell to the Taliban in the past three years.
A day after Afghan security forces killed more than 101 students or wounded more than 100 people in the bombing of a religious seminary where they said senior Taliban figures had gathered, officials on Tuesday admitted that civilians had been among the casualties.
For much of Monday, even as the bodies of wounded and dead civilians — including children — arrived at local hospitals, the Afghan government maintained that its airstrike in northern Kunduz Province had killed only Taliban leaders in a nonresidential area. Late Tuesday, the office of President Ashraf Ghani acknowledged the harm to civilians and said the bombing would be investigated.
The United Nations mission in Afghanistan said it was “actively looking into disturbing reports of serious harm to civilians,” and the Kunduz governor’s office said, “In these airstrikes, in addition to armed opposition, unfortunately some of our civilian countrymen have also been killed and wounded.”
The exact number of casualties resulting from the airstrikes, which occurred in the Dasht-e-Archi district, remained unclear. Afghan officials put the total at 57 to 70 dead. Some local officials believe the number to be higher.
Officials would not publicly say how many of those were civilians, but one senior security official said that about 35 percent of the dead were civilians — mostly children who were students at the seminary
In Kabul, Gen. Mohammad Radmanish, the Defense Ministry spokesman, showed the news media surveillance footage of armed men at the site of the attack in the lead-up to the bombing, as well as grainy pictures of Taliban leaders whom he said were boarding vehicles to attend a meeting at the site. In impassioned remarks, he listed the names of more than a dozen senior Taliban commanders who he said had been meeting to plan “bloodshed and atrocities.”
“Our MD-530 helicopters attacked them, but the wounded brought to the hospitals were hit by bullets and small-arms fire,” Gen. Radmanish said on Tuesday, suggesting that the Taliban had opened fire on civilians, despite his assertion the previous day that no civilians had been in the area of the attack.Health officials in Kunduz disputed his claims.
“We have received 57 wounded so far, their ages ranging from 7 to 60,” said Naeem Mangal, the director of the 200-bed regional hospital in Kunduz, who added that the wounds were “mostly from explosives or bombs.”
Abdul Matin Atefi, the provincial health director of Kunduz, said 26 bodies had arrived in hospitals and clinics. “We don’t know how many of those are civilians or Taliban, but the Taliban usually do not allow their dead or wounded to be registered in clinics,” he said.
A senior security official, who was not authorized to speak to the news media, said that a graduation ceremony had been taking place at the seminary, and that senior Taliban leaders had gathered in a side room. Because of the recent increase in airstrikes, the group’s leaders often choose meeting places that they think will not be bombed by Afghan and coalition forces.The security forces’ initial strikes targeted the side room rather than the main space where hundreds were gathered for the graduation, the official said. The civilian casualties resulted when the strikes continued after civilians and Taliban began running, he said.
As the Afghan forces’ air capabilities have increased in the past couple of years, so have concerns over disregard for civilians in harm’s way, especially as the Taliban often fight from villages and densely populated areas. Much criticism has been directed at Mr. Ghani, who, in trying to bolster his struggling military in the face of a brutal enemy, has often remained quiet on civilian casualties.
“The Afghan government’s efforts to track civilian casualties is far behind what is needed as aerial operations increase,” said Patricia Gossman, the Afghanistan senior researcher for Human Rights Watch. “The failure to investigate, and to follow through to see what goes wrong, means they can’t ensure it won’t happen again.”
“At the moment,” she said, “the pressure to kill Taliban seems to mean they are not simply taking the precautions they should.”
Mawlai Sattar, 36, said he had been at the graduation ceremony along with his 7-year-old son who was helping out on the day.
“When the bombing started, I fled,” said Mr. Sattar, who had become separated from his son at the event. “At home, the women told me that the boy hadn’t returned, so I started running back barefoot, and I saw that half of his jaw was missing and he was lying there with the other martyrs.”
“If they had killed Taliban, my heart would not be at this much pain,” he said, estimating that around 20 Taliban had been present.
“But they killed children,” Mr. Sattar said. “I personally attended 16 funerals today.”
'I am not a terrorist'
Witnesses told Al Jazeera that the gathering included "a lot of civilians" and the families of those killed in the attack "were devastated".
"There were children as young as 11 or 12 years old in the ceremony who were to be presented with awards and gifts for the completion of their religious courses," Mohammed Abdul Haq, who witnessed the attack, told Al Jazeera.
"Mothers are wailing and crying outside the hospitals for the death of their children and everyone is crying with them," he added.
Other witnesses told Al Jazeera that more than 100 people were killed in the attack.
"I was working in my farm when I heard helicopters and jets bombing the madrassa (religious school) where the Taliban were gathered alongside new Qaris (the ones who memorise the 30 chapters of the Quran) to recognise them with awards," Haji Ghulam, a witness, told Al Jazeera.
"The Taliban are active in the area, but the ceremony was attended mostly by children and young boys."
Haji said when he went closer to the area, there were many children who were killed and wounded.
"It was a disaster. Blood everywhere," he said, adding that the "many" people were killed.
Images circulating on social media purportedly showed a number of children'ss bodies, accompanied by the phrase: "I am not a terrorist". Al Jazeera could not independently verify the images.
The Taliban, in a statement sent to Al Jazeera, said the air raid killed around 150 religious scholars and civilians, mostly children, while maintaining that no fighters were present during the attack.
