Afghanistan attack claims
Updated on 03 August 2007
Residents of Baghran claim between 200 and 300 civilians were killed or wounded in nato airstrikes yesterday, reports Katie Razzall.
Helmand province in southern afghanistan is the frontline of the battle between coalition forces and the Taliban - a battle in which civilians are all too often caught.
NATO says the Taliban uses civilians as human shields. And after any report of civilian deaths, arguments rage about numbers - and how it happened.
Today's arguments centre on Baghran, a remote district to the north of Lashkar Gar. Residents say between 200 and 300 civilians were killed or wounded in airstrikes here yesterday. Channel 4 News is unable to verify those figures at the moment.
The US military says coalition forces conducted a precision air strike against two Taliban commanders meeting in Baghran. Helmand's police chief has sent a team to investigate.
Only last week Channel 4 News broadcast the first pictures seen in the west of the remains of Hyderabad in southern afghanistan.
Taken 10 days after inhabitants claimed more than a hundred civilians had been killed by NATO airstrikes here in June.
The facts of this too are hotly contested - NATO forces were attacked here by the Taliban and called in airstrikes - villagers said civilians were fleeing, many in tractors, when they were killed.
Pictures from the hospital showed some of those wounded. It's reported that casualties from the latest assault have been taken to the main hospital in Lashkar Gar.
Any civilian deaths - and there are all too many - put pressure on Afghanistan's President who has shown his frustration in the past.
