Ninety-five Afghan children are among the 140 people said to have died in a recent US-Taliban battle in western Afghanistan, a lawmaker involved in the investigation into the deaths said Wednesday. The US military disputed the claim.?
Afghans blame US airstrikes for the deaths and destruction in two villages in Farah province. American officials say the Taliban kept villagers hostage during the fight and a spokesman said payments to the bereaved offered incentive to exaggerate.
The list, which also includes 65 women and girls, was based on the testimony of family members of the victims, said Obaidullah Helali, a lawmaker from Farah and a member of the government's investigative team. The bodies were buried before an investigation took place, and there are no plans to dig them up.
If the Afghan toll is correct, it would be the largest case of civilian deaths since the 2001 US-led invasion to oust the Taliban.
US military spokesman Col. Greg Julian said "there is no physical proof that can substantiate" the Afghan list of victims. The US has refused to release?the number of people it thinks died in the May 4-5 clash in Farah's Bala Baluk district.
Julian said militants are to blame for the deaths because they kept civilians hostage during the fight in the villages of Gerani and Ganjabad.
The International Committee of the Red Cross also has said that women and children were among dozens of dead people its teams saw in the two villages, but it did not provide an overall figure.
President Hamid Karzai has said the strikes were "not acceptable" and estimated that 125 to 130 civilians died.
Afghan members of the delegation investigating the clash delivered condolence payments to victims' families Tuesday, Helali said. The payments -- $2,000 for the dead and $1,000 for the wounded -- were ordered by Karzai, he said.
The list of the dead has not yet been made public, but the fact that payments are already being made suggests officials consider the investigation complete.
Julian said those payments offered incentive for villagers to report high numbers.
"It's very difficult to determine an exact number and there's a climate that encourages exaggeration," Julian said.
He said the investigation team was taken to three different grave sites, one with four graves, one with 22 graves and one mass grave which contained an unknown number of bodies.
"The locals couldn't decide among themselves whether it was 19 or 69 in that mass grave," Julian said.
"I can sit down and give you a list of names too, given some time, but the physical evidence doesn't compare," he added.
Karzai has long pleaded with the US to minimize civilian deaths during its operations. Past incidents have drawn immediate outcries from the government, which contends that such killings undermine support for the fight against the Taliban.
The disputed incident comes as the Obama administration is gearing up to roll out a new strategy for the region, which involves linking success in Afghanistan with security in neighboring Pakistan, where Taliban militants are active along the border.
(Agencies via China Daily?May 14, 2009)
