‘250 killed’ in attack

Press, 4 February 1982, Page 6

‘250 killed’ in attack

NZPA Islamabad Several hundred people were killed and numerous shops’ destroyed late last month when Soviet fOrcse bombarded markets in Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second largest city, Western diplomatic • and Afghan sources said yesterday. A report from a reliable non-aligned diplomatic source corroborated the accounts and said a number of businesses run by Afghan Hindus of Indian origin were destroyed but no casualties

were- reported within the minority community. The Hindus, many of them engaged in the export ■ of dried fruit, have largely remained aloof to fighting between MuslinVguerrillas and Afghan Government forces, backed by Soviet troops. “The Soviets for the first time used ground-to-ground missiles in Kandahar, not only cannons,” claimed Habibulah Karzai, an Afghan.resistance figure who said he spoke with 20 survivors after they reached Quetta, Pakistan, about 240 kilometres to

the south-east. A western diplomatic report from Kabul, the Afghan capital, put the Kandahar death toll at “several hundred” while Mr Karzai said estimates ranged between 250-300. The non-aligned source, who declined to be identified, gave no figure. However, he said there had been loss of life and that insurgents still had the run of the city except for Government officers and military installations.