Air strikes and bombardments have left some 50 people dead and injured around 50 others in the volatile Panjwai District of Kandahar Province in south Afghanistan Sunday night, witness said today.

 

The US-led Coalition forces declined to make any comment, saying they have no information and investigation is underway.

 

"Over 50 people, 26 of them from one family, in Tolokan Village were killed in the bombardments carried out by the foreign air crafts and 17 wounded people including women and children have been taken to Mirwias Hospital in Kandahar City," said Atta Mohammad, who lost 26 members of his family.

 

"I could only bring 10 seriously injured members of my family to hospital," Mohammad added.

 

Xinhua's scribe at the hospital said that he saw some of the victims were badly wounded and their faces were burned.

 

The air attacks, Mohammad said, began last evening and continued till early Monday morning.

 

The bloody air raids conducted just couple of days after heavy clashes in Panjwai District where, according to officials, some 100 Taliban-linked militants and one Canadian female soldier were killed last week.

 

Meantime, Abdul Qayum Pukhla, the head of the hospital, confirmed the admission of 17 wounded persons in the hospital.

 

Mohammad also said that the attackers used poisonous object in the ill-fated area before the deadly air raid.

 

Afghan government has yet to make any comment.

 

(Xinhua News Agency May 22, 2006)