Afghan Troops Kill 17 Civilians in East Afghanistan Raid

Residents say all slain were civilians

Families in the Nangarhar Province of eastern Afghanistan are protesting Wednesday after a Tuesday night military offensive against the Rodat District killed at least 17 people, all of them civilians.

Locals had the dead out in full display along a main highway through the area, and are demanding a thorough investigation. Several children are among the dead, as was a single family of seven people.

Afghan officials described the operation as being against “insurgents,” though locals say there weren’t any in the area, and all of the dead are just ordinary civilians who live in the district attacked. They accused an Afghan spy of claiming that the district was “dangerous” and provoking the attack.

Afghan officials did confirm they’d heard reports of civilian casualties and were sending a delegation to investigate. Such investigations, particularly in remote provinces like Nangarhar, often take a long time and rarely are conclusively ended.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.