9 civilians killed in E. Afghan operation

JALALABAD, Afghanistan – At least nine Afghan civilians were feared killed and eight others wounded during a night raid operation launched by the Afghan security forces in eastern province of Nangarhar, authorities said Tuesday. 

Afghan Special Operations Forces waged a night raid in Chino Keli village of Chaparhar district, south of provincial capital Jalalabad city, and a gunfight broke out during the operation which caused nine people killed and eight others wounded, a provincial security source told Xinhua anonymously. 

The source said that among those killed and injured were several fighters of the Taliban insurgent group, but the local residents claimed that the victims were all civilians. 

"In Chaparhar incident, nine people were killed and eight others wounded, an investigation team has been assigned to probe the incident and find more facts about the casualties caused following the raid," the provincial government said. 

The Afghan civilians continue to bear the brunt of armed conflicts as more than 3,430 civilians were killed and over 7,000 others injured in conflict-related incidents in 2017, according to figures released by the United Nations mission in the country. 

The mission has attributed 65 percent of the civilian casualties to the Taliban and other insurgent groups, 20 percent to security forces over the period, while 11 percent were attributed to both sides during clashes and the rest 4 percent were caused by other reasons.Enditem 
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