October 31, 2001	Wednesday	Shaba’an 13, 1422

NEW YORK, Oct 30: Up to 35 civilians were killed in a US bombing raid on an Afghan village in Kandahar, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday, urging the Pentagon to “do more to avoid these deaths”.

The village, Chowkar-Karez, was hit by “US bombs and gunfire” on Oct 22 when “at least 25, and possibly as many as 35, Afghan civilians died”, the New York-based human rights group said in a communique.

Six wounded witnesses were interviewed in hospitals in Quetta as were several others who were not injured in the attack, said HRW, the largest human rights organization in the United States.

“None of the witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch knew of Taliban or Al Qaeda positions in the area of the attack,” the statement said.

“If there were military targets in the area, we’d like to know what they were,” Sidney Jones, HRW’s director for Asia, was quoted as saying. “It’s the second instance in less than a week in which we’ve documented substantial civilian casualties from US bombing raids. The Pentagon has got to do more to avoid these deaths.”

HRW, citing “highly consistent accounts of the survivors,” said the raid lasted about an hour in the village, which is about 40 kilometres north of Kandahar city.—AFP