Afghans rally against rising civilian killings

Hundreds of university students blocked main roads in the capital of eastern Nangarhar province to protest over the latest deaths - 10 civilians, mostly schoolchildren, who were apparently gunned down execution-style by US special forces in the Narang district of Kunar province on Saturday.

They burnt an effigy of the US president and shouted "death to Obama" and "death to foreign forces."

Student organiser Safiullah Aminzai said: "Our demonstration is against those foreigners who have come to our country - they have not brought democracy to Afghanistan but they are killing our religious scholars and children."

Activists from the youth wing of Jamiat Eslah, or the Afghan Society for Social Reform and Development, reported that a protest was also planned in Kabul against the "killing of civilians, especially the recent killing of students in Kunar by foreign forces."

The head of a presidential delegation investigating the deaths said yesterday that the team has concluded that civilians - including schoolchildren - were killed in the attack, rejecting NATO claims that the victims were guerillas.

Asadullah Wafa, a senior adviser to US-backed President Hamid Karzai, confirmed that eight schoolchildren between the ages of 12 and 14 were among the victims discovered in a village house in Narang.

"I have talked to the headmaster of the school in the village and he gave us details about the killed children," said Mr Wafa, adding: "The schoolchildren cannot be al-Qaida - I confirm they are innocent people killed by mistake.

"A unit of international forces descended from a plane and took 10 people from three homes, eight of them school students in grades six, nine and 10, one of them a guest, the rest from the same family, and shot them dead," he reported.

Mr Wafa went on to say that the villagers demanded from the 10-member delegation of government officials and MPs that informants "who gave the wrong target to the Americans must be found and punished by a court."

A NATO official maintained that "initial reports" from troops involved in Sunday's incident indicated that the victims were militants.

Students from the University of Nangarhar's education faculty were less than impressed, warning in a statement that they would "take up guns instead of pens and fight against the occupation forces" if the Karzai regime continues to allow "such unilateral operations" by Western forces.

Western military operations in Kunar, which borders Pakistan, are being led by US special forces which operate independently of NATO.

The United Nations released figures this week showing that civilian deaths rose by 10.8 per cent in the first 10 months of 2009 to 2,038 - up from 1,838 for the same period of 2008.