2010 Sangin airstrike

Last updated
Sangin airstrike
DateJuly 23, 2010
Location
Result Estimated 39-52 people killed, mostly women and children

On July 23, 2010, a NATO attack killed and injured many Afghan civilians, most of whom were women and children, in the village of Sangin in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

Contents

The Afghan government claimed that a helicopter-gunship rocket strike killed 52 civilians. [1] Many other civilians including children were also injured and treated at Kandahar hospital. [2] [1] [3] For weeks, US military and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) officials denied that there had been any such incident. [4]

About 200-400 people took to the streets in Kabul, protesting the killing of civilians by foreign troops, carrying photos of those who died in the airstrike. [5] [6]

The Karzai government sent investigators to the site, who concluded that 39 civilians were killed in the rocket strike

According to a statement by the Presidential Palace, the investigation confirmed that 39 civilians had been killed by NATO-led troops in Sangin. [7] The figure was lower than the initially reported 45–52. According to the investigation, all 39 dead were women or children.

See also

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The 2017 Sangin airstrike was an American bombing of the Sangin District in the Helmand Province in Afghanistan. The United Nations mission in Afghanistan stated that "initial inquiries suggest that the airstrikes killed at least 18 civilians, nearly all women and children." A spokesman for the Afghan defense ministry, Dawlat Waziri, denied the reports of civilian casualties but witnesses in the area corroborated the UN report that there were no Taliban members in the area and that U.S. troops had visited the neighborhood days before the incident. The governor of the Helmand Province also corroborated that civilians were killed following the province's own independent analysis of the incident. Elders from Sangin put the number of civilian fatalities higher at 22 killed. Brigadier General Charles H. Cleveland, a spokesman for the international coalition, confirmed that the U.S. had conducted approximately 30 airstrikes in Sangin the week prior. The airstrike was also referred to as the Second Sangin airstrike, seeing as the U.S. had previously conducted an airstrike in Sangin in July 2010 that killed numerous civilians.

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References

  1. 1 2 Jon Boone in Kabul and Ali Safi in Kandahar. "Helmand residents accuse NATO of deliberate attack on civilians killing 52 « RAWA News". Rawa.org. Retrieved 2010-08-13.
  2. Loyn, David (2010-07-25). "BBC News - Nato probes reports raid killed 45 Afghan civilians". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-08-13.
  3. "7 children injured in troops-militants battle in S. Afghanistan". News.xinhuanet.com. 2010-07-24. Archived from the original on July 26, 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-13.
  4. "NATO Expresses Regrets Over Afghan Civilian Deaths In Military Operation". Rttnews.com. Retrieved 2010-08-13.
  5. "Demonstrators hit the streets of Kabul". Itn.co.uk. 2010-08-01. Retrieved 2010-08-13.[ permanent dead link ]
  6. "Stories:Afghans protest alleged NATO civilian deaths". Australia Network News. 2010-08-02. Archived from the original on 2011-07-07. Retrieved 2010-08-13.
  7. "NATO Expresses Regrets Over Afghan Civilian Deaths In Military Operation". RTTNews. Retrieved 2024-05-24.