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Published 15:17 IST, September 20th 2019

US drone strike kills 30 farm workers, injures many in Afghanistan

A drone strike by the United States that intended to hit an Islamic State hideout in Afghanistan accidentally killed 30 pine cut farmers on September 18.

Reported by: Avantika Shukla
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A drone strike by the US that intended to hit an Islamic State hideout in Afghanistan accidentally killed 30 pine cut farmers on September 18.  According to the reports, the farmers were resting after working all day in the fields. The Afghan officials reported to a news agency saying that the attack also wounded 40 more farmers and workers who spent all day collecting pine nuts in the mountainous Wazir Tangi of the eastern Nangarhar province. A witness told that they were sitting with each other and enjoying a bonfire when the drone hit them. The Afghan Defence Ministry and a senior US official in the capital confirmed the strike but shared no details on the casualties. 

READ: Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai Urges US To Resume Peace Talks

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Locals are in deep pain and anger

After the US President Donald Trump said that any peace talks with the Taliban are now dead, the civilians in Afghan were worried as they fear more innocent lives will be taken now in the war that entered its 19th year. The owner of the pine nut fields said that his 150 workers were present at the fields for harvest. Some of them are still missing, some are injured and some out of them have been killed in the attack. A survivor reported that there were around 200 workers who were asleep in nearby tents at the time of the drone strike. The locals are in deep pain and anger. They are demanding an apology along with compensation from the American government. They are saying that the strike cannot be justified and the deaths of innocent people will not win the US forces a war. The people have started a protest again the deadly attack on innocent.

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The drone was supposed to target ISIS militants

The US spokesperson stated that the US Drone strike was conducted against ISIS terrorists in Nangarhar. He said that they are aware of the deaths of innocent and are working collectively with the local administration to determine the details. The US soldiers along with the Afghan government are fighting the ISIS in Afghanistan ever since they came into the sight in the region in 2014. The actual figures of the numbers of militants have not been determined but an estimate says they are about 2000 of them. Afghanistan already had a deadly month with a number of attacks by Taliban killing and injuring hundreds of civilians. The Islamic State did not comment on the US drone strike as for now.

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14:07 IST, September 20th 2019