At least 12 civilians have been killed in an airstrike on a religious school in the northern Afghan province of Takhar. They said the strike on the madrassa in the village of Hazara Qurluq killed 11 children and their prayer leader. The Afghan government disputed the account, saying it had killed 12 Taliban fighters in the village.
The strike came after more than 30 security force members were killed in a major Taliban ambush in the province.v Local officials said 14 others were wounded in the strike late on Wednesday. The imam of the mosque attached to the seminary, Abdul Awal, who was among the wounded and was admitted to hospital, only he and children were in the mosque at the time of the strike.
Doctors at a hospital close to the site of the airstrike in the provincial capital Taloqan said the majority of victims brought in were children, and Mohammad Jawad Hijri, a spokesman for the provincial governor, also said the strike had killed children. But Afghan government officials denied the reports that children had been killed, saying only Taliban fighters died. The Ministry of Defence did not deny that the strike hit a school. A spokesperson said an investigation team had been appointed to “assess allegations about civilian casualties resulting from this attack”.
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