KUNDUZ CITY (Pajhwok): Five people were killed and another 51, mostly children, were wounded on Monday when an airstrike by Afghan forces hit a religous school in Dashti Archi district of northern Kunduz province, local officials said.
Fifteen Taliban insurgents were also killed in the blitz, the officials said. Earlier, sources said at least 31 civilians were hospitalized after they were injured in the airstrike.
According to officials, 15 Taliban militants were killed in the air strike that hit a religious school named Gujar madrasa near Fatan Bazaar in Dasht-i-Archi district Monday noon.
A local security official, who wished to go unnamed, told Pajhwok Afghan News the airstrike targeted a graduation ceremony of the madrasa students.
“More than 60 people were killed or wounded in this attack,” the source said.
However, Mohammadullah at Kunduz Civil Hospital said more than 500 students were present in the seminar when it was bombed.
He claimed 60 people were killed and more than 100 others wounded in the incident. He said three of his sons were among the injured.
On the other hand, Kunduz police chief Brig. Gen. Abdul Hamid Hamidi, said the Afghan air forces targeted a meeting of the Taliban in Dasht-I-Archi district today noon.
He rejected civilian casualties and said seven Tajikistani and two Pakistani nationals were among 15 rebels killed in the attack.
Hamidi said 31 people injured in the airstrike had been shifted to Kunduz Zonal Hospital.
Taliban confirmed the airstrike. Their spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said more than 150 civilians suffered casualties in the airstrike.
He said the attack took place when a graduation ceremony at Hashimia Madrasa was underway. There were no Taliban members in this ceremony and most of the people killed were children, he said.
Dasht-j-Archi is an unstable district of Kunduz province.
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