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France admits killing Afghan civilians
The French military admits that its troops fired an anti-tank missile on April 6, killing four civilians by mistake in eastern Afghanistan.
"The firing of a Milan missile was the cause" of the incident, the French Military's general staff spokesman Christophe Prazuck said on Thursday.
"To our knowledge it is the first time such a thing has happened to French troops," he was quoted by AFP as saying.
Prazuck said that one of the civilians was killed on the scene, while three others died of their injuries in hospital.
The French army claims the missile strike had been a joint French-Afghan operation to target the Taliban.
France has about 3,750 troops stationed in Afghanistan as part of a 120,000-plus US-led NATO presence in the country.
The US led the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 to curb militancy and bring peace and stability to the country. Eight years on, however, Afghanistan still remains unstable and civilians continue to pay the price for the foreign presence.
Thousands of Afghan civilians have lost their lives either in US-led strikes or in the Taliban-led militancy across the violence-wracked country.
Military News - US drone found in Mosul arms depot
The French military admits that its troops fired an anti-tank missile on April 6, killing four civilians by mistake in eastern Afghanistan.
"The firing of a Milan missile was the cause" of the incident, the French Military's general staff spokesman Christophe Prazuck said on Thursday.
"To our knowledge it is the first time such a thing has happened to French troops," he was quoted by AFP as saying.
Prazuck said that one of the civilians was killed on the scene, while three others died of their injuries in hospital.
The French army claims the missile strike had been a joint French-Afghan operation to target the Taliban.
France has about 3,750 troops stationed in Afghanistan as part of a 120,000-plus US-led NATO presence in the country.
The US led the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 to curb militancy and bring peace and stability to the country. Eight years on, however, Afghanistan still remains unstable and civilians continue to pay the price for the foreign presence.
Thousands of Afghan civilians have lost their lives either in US-led strikes or in the Taliban-led militancy across the violence-wracked country.
Military News - US drone found in Mosul arms depot
