30 Afghan civilians killed in US air strike in May, says UN

KABUL: At least 30 civilians were killed when the US bombed several drug-making facilities in western Afghanistan in May, a UN agency said in a report on Wednesday, though the US military immediately disputed the findings.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) conducted an investigation over four months looking into what happened on May 5 when the US military bombed dozens of sites it had identified as Taliban methamphetamine labs.

Soon after the strikes in Bakwa district of Farah province, and parts of the bordering Delaram district in Nimroz province, UNAMA said it began to receive reports of "significant civilian harm".

After a fact-finding mission to some of the impact sites and face-to-face interviews with 21 people impacted by the strikes, UNAMA said it had "verified 39 civilian casualties (30 deaths, five injured and four undetermined), including 14 children and one woman, due to the May 5 air strikes".

Council’s office. Later, the Attorney General had nullified the notification and the PBC appealed in the Supreme Court against the decision. The SC sent back the case to the Pakistan Bar Council and after that PBC has sent five notices to Barrister Farough Naseem.

Hafiz Idress said Faroogh Naseem replied the last notice terming the PBC’s notifications illegal. He added that the PBC during its Tuesday meeting declared his response unsatisfactory, held him responsible for misconduct and sent his case to the disciplinary committee.