KANDAHAR, Afghanistan: At least 20 civilians were killed and dozens more were injured when mortar rounds struck a crowded cattle market in southern Afghanistan on Monday, with the government and the Taliban blaming each other.
Residents of the Sangin district of Helmand province, where the cattle market is held in a Taliban-controlled area, said three mortar rounds struck just as the bazaar hummed with a crowd of nearly 500 people and hundreds of animals. Several local elders said the mortars had been fired by the Afghan Army’s Second Brigade, which has a base in the southwest of the district.
“Human and animal meat were mixed,” said Saifullah Khan, who was on the market. “Twenty-five people were killed on the spot, another 10 died from their injuries later.”
Mr. Khan said that although the Taliban had fired rockets at the army base the previous day, on Monday morning it had been quiet and there had been no fighting before the bazaar began.
Video from the small district clinic showed a large crowd carrying victims, the floors of the complex covered in blood. Children were heard crying. In the bazaar, the bodies of dead animals seemed to still be lying between hats and shoes.
Emergency, a medical charity that runs a first-aid post in Sangin, said part of its facilities was also damaged by the mortar shelling, but they continued to treat the wounded.
“We have received thirty patients at our Sangin first aid station so far, seven of whom unfortunately were already dead on arrival,” said Marco Puntin, program coordinator for the charity.
The Afghan government denied that its forces were behind the attack. The provincial governor’s office in Helmand, which estimated the death toll at 23, said that the Taliban had been trying to attack military bases with mortars, but that the shells had fallen on civilians.
“Our army did not fire any artillery,” said Omar Zwak, a spokesman for the governor.
A statement by President Ashraf Ghani’s office, condemning the attack, called it a “terrorist attack”. His spokesman, Sediq Sediqqi, said it was the work of the Taliban.
Even as violence escalates in Afghanistan, there is often little responsibility for the death of civilians. Many attacks go unreported, while in other bloody incidents, both sides blame the other and escalate to further violence.
Investigations into reports of missing air strikes or mortars rarely result in public responses. Murders and targeted killings have increasingly reduced the space for human rights activists and workers trying to follow up on cases of damage to civilians.
A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, blamed Afghan forces for Monday’s attack, saying the Afghan government “threw dust in people’s eyes” by describing the mortar bombing as a car bomb so they could attribute the violence to the taliban.
A United States agreement with the Taliban in February has begun the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. About a third of the 12,000 troops have already left, but it has done little to reduce bloodshed.
Helmand province has seen some of the worst fighting of the war in nearly two decades, with civilians caught between the Taliban attacks and the coalition and Afghan forces’ clean-up operations. They have been the victims of roadside bombs dropped by insurgents and air strikes carried out by Afghan and US forces. The Taliban control at least five districts in the province and dispute large areas in the other eight.
On Sunday, a van carrying civilians was hit by a Taliban bomb on the road in the Washir district of Helmand, killing six people, including a woman and three children.
Taimoor Shah reported from Kandahar and Fahim Abed from Kabul, Afghanistan. Mujib Mashal contributed reports from Kabul.
