British troops accused of shooting civilians in Afghanistan

Nato has launched an investigation into allegations that British forces opened fire on civilians, killing one and wounding six, after a suicide attack earlier this month.

Captain Andrew Salloum, a spokesman for Nato’s International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, said the accusation was that British troops may have shot innocent civilians who sped away after a car bomb attack in Kandahar on December 3.

Captain Salloum said it was standard procedure to open an investigation when “a situation like that occurs and civilians are killed and there are allegations of ISAF wrongdoing”.

Meanwhile, Taliban militants broke into a house where two teachers lived and shot dead five family members in eastern Afghanistan, bringing to 20 the number of educators killed in attacks this year, officials and a relative said today.

The five family members were killed overnight in the eastern province of Kunar after gunmen climbed over the home’s high outer wall using a ladder they had brought with them, said Dr Ghaleb, a family relative who goes by one name.

A grandmother, a mother and two daughters, who were teachers, were killed, Ghaleb said. A 20-year-old grandson was also killed and a younger grandson injured in the attack in a village in Narang district.

The two sisters had been warned in a letter from the Taliban to quit teaching, said Gulam Ullah Wekar, the provincial education director. Ghaleb said the letter warned the women that it was against Islam for them to teach, and if they continued they would “end up facing the penalty”.

The Taliban, which banned girls from going to school during its rule, oppose nonreligious education and education for females.

The two dead sisters brought to 20 the number of teachers killed in Taliban attacks this year, said Zuhur Afghan, the spokesman of the Education Ministry. He said 198 schools have been burned down this year.

Angered by the attack, the provincial governor fired the district’s administrative chief and police chief.

“I am very sad by this killing,” said Gov. Shalezai Didar. “I told the villagers: 'Look at this barbaric situation, the enemy of Afghanistan is killing women'.”

In southern Afghanistan a roadside bomb that exploded next to a Nato convoy in Uruzgan province yesterday killed two Afghan translators working for the military.