KABUL, Oct 1: A government-appointed commission found that 53 civilians were killed in a nearly two-week Nato-led operation in a Taliban stronghold last month, the head of the team said on Sunday.
President Hamid Karzai appointed the commission to investigate civilian casualties in Operation Medusa in the southern province of Kandahar after its military phase wrapped up mid-September with commanders declaring success.
Provincial authorities had previously said 13 civilians died. The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force said around 1,000 rebels were killed and others were forced to retreat.
“Our findings show that 53 people have been martyred, nine others have been wounded, eight mosques have been destroyed and a number of people’s houses and orchards have been destroyed,” the head of the commission told AFP.
The information was gathered from victims, their relatives, villagers, provincial authorities and security forces, said Moyahedin Baloch, who is also a religious advisor to Karzai.
The national broadcaster RTA reported that Baloch had told the president that most of the casualties occurred because the Taliban used civilian homes as cover, forcing troops to return fire into the houses.
The president condemned the Taliban’s use of civilians as “human shields”, the television station said.
ISAF and Afghan authorities had warned residents to leave the area of operation — Panjwayi, Pashmul and Zhari which are about 35 kilometres (19 miles) west of Kandahar city — before the fighting began.
Around 7,500 families, made up of between five and seven people each, had fled the fighting, officials said.
ISAF had not yet been informed of the details of the commission’s findings but wanted to understand how the casualties and damage happened and how much could be attributed to troop or to insurgent action, a spokesman said.
“We would like to substantiate how the casualties may have occurred,” Major Luke Knittig told AFP.
He said the force had been particularly sensitive about avoiding mosques in the campaign and was already repairing the battle damage.
“We already have repaired schools there that were operated out of by insurgents, in one case as a command post,” Knittig said.
ISAF had in place procedures that by which civilians could make claims for compensation, he said.
Medusa involved about 2,000 Afghan and ISAF troops.
It was the biggest anti-Taliban operation undertaken by ISAF which has around 21,000 troops in war-damaged Afghanistan trying to help the government defeat the revived Taliban movement and rebuild.
