Afghanistan: Nato Admits That One of Its Helicopters Has Injured Five Children

ISAF confirmed in a statement that he was informed an “incident” during which “five Afghan children were injured while a regrettable notorious insurgent was taken as the target of a coalition helicopter.” wounded were evacuated to an ISAF medical center which is under the supervision of physicians, ISAF says, which says it will investigate the bombing that took place Saturday in Nahr-i-Saraj district. In Helmand province, a stronghold of Taliban insurgents, is registered most international coalition forces casualties. civilian victims of NATO operations is a very sensitive topic in Afghanistan, a country where ten years of foreign military presence fuels anti-Western resentment. 

Image by isafmedia via Flickr

Civilians are by far the main victims in this conflict, in increasingly bloody. Over 1,400 civilians have been killed since early 2011, an increase of 15% compared to the first half of 2010, which was in turn the bloody year of war in terms of the civilian population, according to the United Nations. According to the UN, NATO and Afghan forces are responsible for 14% of civilian casualties, compared to a 80% attributed to insurgents, while responsibility for 6% could not be attributed. UN in mid-July noted an increase civilians killed by ISAF helicopter attacks.