Afghan assault on Taliban leaves 30 civilians and 2 U.S. service members dead
Children displaced by fighting between Afghan forces and Taliban insurgents stay in a camp on the Kabul outskirts.
Thirty Afghan civilians and two U.S. service members were killed in a military operation Thursday outside the northern city of Kunduz, which has been encircled by Taliban insurgents for weeks, Afghan officials said.
Four Afghan special forces soldiers were killed in the raid, which Afghan officials said targeted suspected militants. But many of the civilians who were killed were women and children, said Mahmood Danish, a spokesman for the Kunduz provincial governor.
In a statement, the U.S. military in Afghanistan confirmed the deaths of two of its service members but did not comment on the reports of civilian casualties.
“Despite today’s tragic event, we are steadfast in our commitment to help our Afghan partners defend their nation,” Gen. John W. Nicholson, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said.
Two other U.S. service members were wounded in the operation, the statement added.
Their identities were not immediately disclosed pending notification of their families.
It was a rare example of U.S. engagement in direct combat in Afghanistan, where foreign troops are supposed to be confined to an advisory role.
But more U.S. troops, particularly special operations forces, have been thrust back into the fighting over the past year as Taliban insurgents threaten to seize major cities in northern and southern Afghanistan.
At least four other U.S. service members have been killed in combat in Afghanistan this year.
Afghan officials said the operation Thursday was launched both from the ground and air by Afghan forces in Boz-e Kandahari, north of Kunduz, Afghanistan’s fifth largest city. The raid targeted two top Taliban commanders, who were killed along with dozens of other insurgents, Danish said.
Rabbani Rabbani, a member of the Kunduz provincial council, said U.S. troops were providing support on the ground to Afghan soldiers.
Residents in Kunduz held a protest after the bodies of civilians were brought to the town. An investigation by military officials and civilians would probe the incident, Danish said.
Faizy is a special correspondent. Staff writer Shashank Bengali contributed to this report from Mumbai, India.
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UPDATES:
6:30 a.m.: Updated with staff reporting, comments from U.S. Afghan officials.
5:00 a.m.: Updated with civilian death toll
This story was originally posted at 2 a.m.
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