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Canadian soldiers shoot Afghan civilian in self-defence, ISAF says |
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Written by NotOverYet
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Monday, 26 November 2007 |
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Canada.com, Canada
Kelly Cryderman
CanWest News Service
Published: Friday, November 16, 2007
KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan
Canadian troops shot and killed an Afghan civilian and wounded
another, the International Security Assistance Force and Canadian
military said late Friday.
"We deeply regret the loss of innocent civilian lives and a full
investigation is being carried out," said Wing Cmdr. Antony McCord,
an ISAF spokesman for Regional Command South.
"ISAF reserves the right to self-defence, but every effort is made to
avoid risk to civilian life while also dealing with the potential
insurgent threat posed by vehicle-borne suicide bombers. Afghan
citizens are urged to comply with the warning signs in order to
prevent these incidents."
Afghans travelling highways and roads are required to pull over or
avoid getting close to military convoy vehicles as they approach.
Convoys are authorized to use force if they think they might be under
attack. Eleven of Canada's 71 deaths in Afghanistan have been the
result of suicide attacks.
ISAF said a taxi had approached a patrol convoy Thursday, and had
ignored visual signs to stop.
"Warning shots were fired and the ISAF troops then carried on with
their patrol," a news release late Friday said.
"The occupants of the taxi were subsequently treated at a hospital
where one later died of gunshot wounds. The other injured occupant
was transferred to the Multinational Medical Unit at Kandahar
Airfield, where he underwent medical treatment, and is expected to be
discharged shortly."
Clearer details will be released by the Canadian military Saturday.
The ISAF press release did not say where in Kandahar province the
incident occurred.
Meanwhile, a double wedding convoy travelling between Herat and
Kandahar City was attacked Friday, killing the two grooms and one
child.
There were no ISAF or military forces there, said Syed Agha Saqib,
the provincial police chief. He said gunmen opened fire on the three-
vehicle convoy near the village of Howz-e-Madad in Zhari district at
about 11 a.m. One man and one child were also wounded.
The Taliban are killing "innocent Afghan people," Saqib said.
Howz-e-Madad has been the site of many violent flare-ups between
Afghan and Canadian Forces, and the insurgents. Attacks against
civilian trucks and military convoys come every couple of days in the
area, the military has said.
Friday was a particularly violent day in Zhari district.
Earlier in the morning an improvised explosive device blew up,
killing four Afghan police, one of them an officer, according to
Zhari district police chief Niaz Mohammad Serhadi.
Serhadi said it is usually Afghan and NATO forces that patrol the
road. These deaths were the result of a recently placed homemade
bomb. |
