TARINKOT - Fourteen civilians, including women and children, have been wounded in Afghan Air Force (AAF) shelling in the Chori district of central Uruzgan province, a local representative claimed on Sunday.
Noor Mohammad Haqmal, deputy head of the provincial council, acknowledged civilians had been wounded in AAF bombing.
He said he visited the injured people at the hospital and asked security forces to make sure the safety of civilian population during operations.
Civil Hospital director Dr. Aminullah Tokhi said four injured people evacuated to the hospital from Chori district on Saturday.
He said the injured were women and children who suffered wounds in airstrike. After initial treatment they were delivered to Kandahar for proper treatment, he added.
The incident he said occurred in Akhtar village of the district on Saturday.
District Police Chief Aka acknowledged 14 civilians have been wounded but declined to accept that civilian causalities resulted in AAF shelling.
He told Pajhwok Afghan News some homes situated in the line of fire and sometimes unintentionally a mortar or bullet landed on their homes.
Abdul Malik, who evacuated his injured family members to hospital, said their house came under shelling as AAF was bombing the Taliban positions in the area at around 2:00pm.
He said the Taliban hid themselves in the village and fired at security forces, adding the insurgents used civilians as shield during fire fight.
Gen. Ghulam Hazrat Kakar, an Afghan National Army (ANA) commander, rejected the claim and said they did not conduct airstrikes in Chori district.
Defence ministry spokesman Gen. Dawlat Waziri was unaware of the incident.
Taliban also have not commented about the security forces airstrikes in Uruzgan. (Pajhwok)