Seven people were killed during protests in southern Afghanistan sparked by rumours that foreign troops had desecrated a Koran, an official said Wednesday, blaming Taliban for inciting the violence.
Investigators sent to Helmand province found no foreign soldiers had opened fire Tuesday at the protest and no desecration had taken place in a military operation the day earlier, said Daud Ahmadi, spokesman for the provincial governor.
"All the responsibility lies with the Taliban as it was the Taliban who incited the incident," he said, citing the report, which was completed Wednesday and accused Taliban of starting the rumours about the Koran.
No word on whether or not the UN would count those deaths as caused by the Taliban, adding to the total they are responsible for, which exceeds the total number of deaths caused by the coalition by a factor of at least two.
But the most striking aspect of the report was the shift in responsibility for the deaths of Afghan civilians. The survey found that the Taliban and other insurgents killed more than twice the number as the American-led coalition and Afghan government forces did last year, mostly by suicide bombings, homemade bombs and executions.
By: Brant
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