Some family members of those killed in a government forces’ airstrike in Kunduz province, in the north, on Friday called on government to serve justice to those affected by the incident.

In a joint airstrike by Afghan and foreign forces on Thursday, 14 people including women and children from three families were killed in Dare-e-Robat village in Chahar Dara district in Kunduz.



They died when they were hiding in a house located few hundred meters from district governor’s office so that they can save their lives from ongoing fights between government forces and Taliban, a local official said.



The victims were laid to rest on Friday. At the funeral ceremony, the family members condemned the airstrike and called for justice.



“There were four to five houses and nearly 20 women, children and youth. A young boy named Farid called me one minute before the bombing and said you should not come here, because clash is ongoing there. Then when our conversation ended, a bomb was dropped, and the house was smashed,” a relative of the victims said.



“For how long this situation should continue on Muslims? Whether they are the slaves of America or Pakistan, but at least they should know that they are Afghans and Muslims,” another relative of the victims said.



“This is a shame for government. It should be taken seriously. How long people should tolerate this?” asked Khosh Mohammad Nusratyar, member of Kunduz Provincial Council.



Chahar Dara district governor Zalmai Farooqi meanwhile said they were not consulted by government forces on the airstrike.



“If they had consulted us, I would myself inform the families and took them a way. The army, I, the NDS and no other government departments were not informed. They come and bomb one place while another place remains,” said Farooqi.



The Ministry of Defense in a statement on Friday confirmed that 14 people were “killed and wounded” in a joint airstrike in Kunduz’s Chahar Dara district.



The ministry said a team has been sent to Kunduz to probe the incident.



“This was a joint operation. Let’s wait until the investigations are completed. Then we will know about the person (pilot) and the aircraft that was used in the operation,” Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanish said on Friday.



Former President Hamid Karzai has called the incident a war crime and inhuman and has asked government to call on foreign forces not to carry out such raids in future.