A US drone strike intended to hit the Islamic States (IS) killed at least 30 pine nut workers in the province of Nangahar in Afghanistan. The workers were resting a field when the drone strike happened.
The strikes also injured 40 civilians who had been collected the dry pine nuts from the fields in mountainous Wazir Tangi region in the eastern part of the Nangahar province. As per an article in Reuters, the workers had gathered around a born fire in the field and discussing the political and security climate in their villages.
The Taliban and the IS have been fighting each other ever since IS Jihadis first surfaced in Afghanistan in 2014. The US along with the Afghan forces has been launching airstrikes in the provinces which have been lost to the militant group.
Afghanistan has been boiled in violence since the Soviet occupation of the country from 1980 till 1988. Since then, regular violence between the Taliban and the government forces has been a feature of the country.
In 2001, the US had toppled the Taliban regime and since then regular fighting between the Afghan forces with assistance from the US and the Taliban has been going on. With the emergence of IS in the region, the fighting has now been happening in the rebel-controlled regions between the two militant outfits.
Wednesday’s strike was an attempt to give casualties to the IS which is prevalent in the region. According to an article in NDTV, a letter had been sent to the governor of the province seeking assurances to not be caught in the crossfire between the two forces.
When asked about it, an army spokesperson of the US Military, said that the matter is under investigation. With the Afghanistan Presidential Election to be held on September 28th, the violence would have a negative impact over potential voters to bring democracy in the war-torn country.
Family members of the deceased have sought an apology and financial reparations from the US government. They have also let out their dismay over the attacks, according to a report in Reuters, a citizen from Jalalabad has said that the US government must realise that it cannot win the war at the cost of civilian lives.
Violence has seen a new escalation over the past week since the US President Donald Trump had cancelled talks with the Taliban over the killing of a US Soldier in an attack.
(Input from agencies)