US troops raided the residence of an Afghan lawmaker in the eastern province of Nangarhar, killing one of her relatives, officials said on Thursday.
More than 100 US troops on Wednesday night surrounded the village where Safiya Sediqi lives and killed her brother’s brother—in—law, Sediqi, a lawmaker in the lower house of parliament, said by phone.
The NATO—led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), to which the United States belongs, said a joint ISAF and Afghan force killed “an armed individual” while pursuing a Taliban facilitator in the Shurk Rod district.
“During the operation an individual with a weapon was observed adjacent to one of the buildings,” an ISAF statement said.
The soldiers told the man to lower his weapon but he “ignored the repeated commands, raised his weapon and aimed at the combined force and then was shot and killed,” it said.
Abdul Hadi Sediqi, the lawmaker’s brother, identified the deceased as Amanullah, an auto mechanic in Kabul, who was visiting the family along with his wife and five children.
“When we heard some noise outside, Amanullah and my younger brother took the hunting shotgun and went out to inspect,” he said.
“As soon as he stepped outside, he was shot and killed.” The troops photographed and fingerprinted all family members, including toddlers, and kept them blindfolded for four hours while searching the home, he said.
Mr. Safiya Sediqi, who was not at home at the time of the raid, called the attack “a barbaric act” and “disrespect to the immunity of parliamentarians.” Dozens of people protested the killing on Thursday and called on NATO troops to leave Afghanistan, local resident Abdul Hamid said. Abdul Ghafour, spokesman for the police chief of Nangarhar, said the raid was conducted without the knowledge of the district’s police. The ISAF said the attack was jointly carried out by Afghan and foreign forces, who “will perform a joint assessment to review this operation.” Attacks by international forces that result in deaths of civilians have angered Afghans and are the main source of friction between the government and foreign troops in the country.
Nangarhar borders Pakistan, from where Taliban militants are said to infiltrate into the province to carry out attacks on Afghan forces and NATO troops.
