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An Afghan man carries an injured child after airstrikes in Kunduz province, Afghanistan, April, 3, 2018. Scores of people have been confirmed dead and injured as government forces' airstrikes targeted a Taliban-held area in Dasht Archi district of the northern Kunduz province on Monday, officials and locals said Tuesday.(Xinhua/Ajmal Kakar)
KABUL, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Scores of people have been confirmed dead and injured as government forces' airstrikes targeted a Taliban-held area in Dasht Archi district of the northern Kunduz province on Monday, officials and locals said Tuesday.
"Scores of people including Taliban militants and civilians were killed and wounded due to air raids against Taliban gathering in Daftani area of Dasht Archi district on Monday," district governor Nasrudin Saadi Nazari told Xinhua.
The official also confirmed that the attack was conducted in the Taliban-held area and efforts are underway to determine the number of casualties and the identity of the victims.
According to officials, 15 commanders and a senior leader of Taliban outfit Mawlawi Burhan alias Qari Baryal who was visiting Taliban-held areas to reorganize the insurgent group are also among those killed in the strikes.
However, locals have disputed the claim, saying more than 150 people including armed insurgents and civilians were killed and injured in the raids targeted a religious school where a graduation ceremony of Taliban seminaries was underway.
Condemning the bloody strikes as attack on civilians, the villagers called upon the government to halt targeting unarmed people.
A doctor in Kunduz provincial capital the Kunduz city, Naem Mangal told Xinhua that 50 injured people had been taken to the hospital and some after receiving first aid have been discharged from the hospital.
Meanwhile, Zabihullah Majahid who claims to speak for the Taliban outfit in contact with media has claimed that all the victims are civilians.
Rejecting the claim, deputy spokesman for Defense Ministry Mohammad Rad Manish told local media that the "militants were planning to attack government interests but the government airpower acting upon intelligence report targeted the enemy, killing and injuring up to 40 insurgents."
