News / Afghanistan

Four killed in fresh US drone strike in Afghanistan’s Kunduz

Tuesday, 28 June 2016 5:24 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 28 June 2016 5:28 PM ]

The file photo shows a US drone landing at a military base in Afghanistan. (AFP)

At least four people have been killed in a fresh US drone strike in Afghanistan’s northern province of Kunduz, local security sources say.

The sources said Tuesday that the airstrike was carried out in the Chardara district of the province, located about 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of the capital, Kabul, the previous night, Khaama Press reported.

Afghan National Army General Abdul Qahar Aram said those killed in the attack were Taliban militants. However, the Taliban have made no comments on the airstrike so far.

On June 25, a number of militants and several civilians in custody of the Taliban were killed in a drone strike in the same volatile region.

The US's 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. The agency has used hundreds of unmanned aircraft to conduct surveillance flights and airstrikes since the US and its allies invaded Afghanistan in 2001.

Washington has also been conducting targeted killings through remotely-controlled armed drones in Somalia and Yemen.

The United States claims the airstrikes target members of al-Qaeda and other militants, but according to local officials and witnesses, civilians have been the victims of the attacks in most cases.

The airstrikes, initiated by former US President George W. Bush, have been escalated since Barack Obama took office in 2009. Obama has defended the use of the controversial drone attacks as “self-defense.”

International organizations and human rights groups say the airstrikes flout international law.

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