US Drone Strike Kills Several in Eastern Afghanistan
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – At least twelve people lost their lives in a US drone strike in the Afghanistan’s troubled eastern province of Nangarhar on Sunday, local authorities said.
Local officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the aerial attack took place in the Khogyani district of the province, which is located 120 kilometers (74 miles) east of the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Sunday morning, and that all those killed in the assault were members of the Taliban militant group, Press TV reported.
On November 7, three people were killed when a US unmanned aerial vehicle pounded Ghani Khel district in Nangarhar Province.
Five people were also killed on September 18, when a US drone struck Nazyan district in the same Afghan province. Afghan officials later identified the deceased as Daesh militants.
The development came only five days after a drone strike against Lal Pur district in Nangarhar Province, situated over 150 kilometers (93 miles) east of the capital, Kabul, left five people dead and two others injured.
In a similar incident, Afghan authorities said 15 members of Pakistan-based Tehrik-i-Taliban militant group were killed after a US drone hit Gomal district in Afghanistan’s southeastern province of Paktika.
The CIA spy agency regularly uses drones for airstrikes and spying missions in Afghanistan as well as Pakistan’s northwestern tribal belt near the Afghan border.
Washington has been also conducting targeted killings through remotely-controlled armed drones in Somalia and Yemen.
The US says the airstrikes target members of al-Qaeda and other militants, but according to local officials and witnesses, civilians have in most cases been the victims of the attacks.
The United Nations says the US drone attacks are “targeted killings” that flout international law.