The government and the Taliban pointed blame at each other in the latest attack. But in this war, there is diminishing clarity on who is to blame for the bodies piling up.
At least 20 civilians were killed and dozens of others wounded when mortar rounds struck a crowded livestock market in southern Afghanistan on Monday, with the government and the Taliban pointing blame at each other.
Residents in the district of Sangin, in Helmand Province, where the livestock market is held in a Taliban-controlled area, said that three mortar rounds struck just as the bazaar was buzzing with a crowd of nearly 500 people and hundreds of animals. Several local elders said that the mortars had been fired by the Second Brigade of the Afghan Army, which has a base in the southwest of the district.
“Human and animal flesh was mixed,” said Saifullah Khan, who was at the market. “Twenty-five people were killed on the spot, 10 others died of their wounds later.”
Mr. Khan said that although the Taliban had fired rockets at the army base the day before, Monday morning had been quiet and there had been no fighting before the bazaar had started.
Video from the small district clinic showed a large crowd carrying victims, the floors of the compound covered in blood.
