Bombs hit UN office, mosque in Kandahar: 11 civilians killed
By Our Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, Nov 16: United States’ aerial strikes on Kandahar hit the compound of United Nations Mine Action Programme’s sub-office on Thursday, leading to an estimated loss of $2 million, UN officials said on Friday.
Speaking at a news conference here, UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance to Afghanistan spokesperson Stephanie Bunker said the De-mining Agency for Afghanistan (Dafa), a sub-agency of the UN Mine Action Programme for Afghanistan (UNMAPA), was hit on Thursday night. The Dafa compound has several buildings, she said.
Answering a question, Ms Bunker said that, according to preliminary report, no UNMAPA staff was injured.
Asked if the UN had given information to the US about the location of its buildings in Afghanistan, the spokesperson said that all the sites of the programme were well marked.
Earlier, UN Information Centre Director Eric Falt said UN special rapporteur for human rights and extra-judicial killings, Asma Jehangir, had called for an independent inquiry into extra-judicial killings in Afghanistan. Quoting Ms Jehangir, he said evidence was gradually emerging that a number of civilians were being killed extra-judicially.
About the visit of UN deputy special representative for Afghanistan, Francesc Vendrell, Mr Falt said the flight had to be postponed due to reasons of insurance.
Unicef spokesperson Chulho Hyun said that latest anecdotal evidence emerging from Afghanistan indicated that long after the fighting ends, the nightmare would continue for the Afghan children. “An atmosphere of uncertainty, coupled with explosions, gunfire and the sight of dead bodies in the streets, are all factors in this trauma,” he said.
Mr Hyun said the school teachers in Kabul reported that many of their pupils had been suffering from sleeplessness, nightmares and anxiety.
Prior to Sept 11, Unicef had sponsored emotional counselling programmes in Afghanistan to help children who continued to struggle with the trauma of previous fighting, he said and added that re-establishing and expanding such programmes would be a priority when Afghanistan entered its rehabilitation phase.
11 CIVILIANS KILLED: Heavy US bombing of Kandahar on Thursday night and Friday destroyed a mosque and the Taliban’s foreign ministry building and killed 11 civilians, adds AFP.
The AIP quoted sources in the southern city as saying the Taliban’s foreign ministry office in the eastern part of Kandahar was targeted and destroyed in the raids.
Eleven civilians were killed and more than 25 injured.
Kandahar houses the Taliban’s headquarters and is the base of its supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.
Anti-Taliban leader Hamid Karzai, who has been trying to convince the militia to surrender the city, said: “There is no report of any fighting in Kandahar this morning. The Taliban are still in control of Kandahar.”
CAPTURED: A large group of mercenaries fighting alongside the Taliban have been captured by the opposition near the northern Afghan city of Kunduz, an Afghan diplomatic source in Tajikistan said on Friday.
The diplomat was unable to say how many fighters had been seized by the opposition Northern Alliance forces or where they were from.
But Afghan military sources said the Taliban’s mercenary supporters included Chechens, Arabs, Pakistanis and Uzbeks from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which has been singled out by the United States in its anti-terror campaign.
