By KUNA
Kabul : A senior Taliban commander escaped an airstrike that killed 10 people, including a woman, by foreign troops in western Afghanistan, police said on Monday.
Separately, the Afghan police claimed they had killed nine Taliban militants in Deh Rawod district of the southern Uruzgan province of the country Sunday night.
The airstrike was conducted in Bakwa district of the western Farah province to target Taliban commander Mullah Abdul Mannan. It is not clear if the attack was carried out by coalition or NATO troops.
The foreign troops so far did not issue any comment, but police said the house was raided by “foreign troops” that killed 10 people. The dead included some members of Mannan’s family as well as some militants, who were holding a meeting in the house, said the police official who did not want to be named.
Another police officer, introducing himself as Sayed Agha, said the attack was carried by ground forces. He said Afghan and foreign troops raided the house of Abdul Mannan following intelligence reports that the militants were holding meeting there.
Governor of Farah province, bordering the troubled province of Helmand, when contacted for comments over the telephone, said he had not receiveD complete details about the raid. Taliban militants also did not issue any comment so far.
Separately, police said they had killed nine militants in the southern province of Uruzgan during an overnight clash. Provincial police chief Brig. GeneraL Juma Gul said one police officer was also wounded in the operation.
The officer said the anti-Taliban operation had been launched in the province about a week back. He said a commander had also been killed in the fresh clash, but would not give his name.
Civilian casualties in NATO and coalition forces’ operations are causing serious concern among the Afghan government, people and the international community. Afghan President Hamid Karzai had time and again asked the foreign troops to observe restraints while conduction operations in civilian areas.