WITNESSES: 24 CIVILIANS KILLED IN AFGHAN GOVERNMENT AIRSTRIKES

Government airstrikes in northern Afghanistan killed 24 civilians, including children, and wounded six others, witnesses told The Associated Press on Sunday.

The two witnesses contacted by the AP said most of those killed in Saturday’s airstrikes, which struck the village of Sayed Ramazan in northern Kunduz province, were civilians. The Khanabad district in the province where the village is located is Taliban-controlled.

The Afghan Defense Ministry, however, said the airstrikes killed 30 Taliban fighters, but added an investigation was being made into claims that civilians were among those killed.

The airstrikes come as Taliban and government-appointed negotiators are meeting for the first time in Qatar to discuss the future of Afghanistan and an end to decades of war and conflict.

Villagers said an initial airstrike targeted a house belonging to a Taliban fighter, whose home doubled as a checkpoint for stopping and frisking people to ensure they were not connected to the government. The explosion set fire to a nearby home, trapping a family inside, said Latif Rahmani, who witnessed the airstrikes and spoke to the AP by phone.

Rahmani said farmers and villagers ran to douse the fire and rescue trapped family members inside when a second airstrike hit, killing many of them.

Rahmani, who said he was working on his house at the time of the airstrike, warned his neighbors against running toward the burning buildings for fear of a second airstrike.

“I yelled at people and told them not to go because maybe there would be another bombing, but they ran to help and to put out the fire,” Rahmani said.

A second witness in the area, Kalamuddin, who like many Afghans uses just one name, said the lone Taliban fighter who lived in the house that was initially hit had been killed.