Zerkoh Valley (alternately ''Zirko'', ''Zer-e-koh'', ''Zir Koh'') runs for 30 miles through

Shindand District Shinḍanḍ District () is located in the southern part of Herat Province in Afghanistan, bordering Adraskan District to the north, Ghor Province to the east and Farah Province to the south and west. It is one of the 16 districts of Herat Provinc ...

Herat Province Herat ( Dari: هرات) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the western part of the country. Together with Badghis, Farah, and Ghor provinces, it makes up the north-western region of Afghanistan. Its primary city a ...

, Afghanistan.

Civilian deaths in Coalition airstrikes

On 29 April 2007, a number of Afghan civilians in Zerkoh were killed in

airstrike An airstrike, air strike, or air raid is an offensive operation carried out by aircraft. Air strikes are delivered from aircraft such as blimps, balloons, fighter aircraft, attack aircraft, bombers, attack helicopters, and drones. The official d ...

s conducted in support of US Special Operations Forces. Estimates of the number of dead vary, with the Afghan government claiming 42 killed, with no sign of

Taliban , leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders , leader1_name = {{indented plainlist, * Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013) * Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016) * Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) ...

forces. Initial Coalition media reports stated that 87 Taliban were killed with no reports of civilian casualties.

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

reported the civilian dead as at least 25.“Troops in Contact”
Human Rights Watch, 8 September 2008

External links

Special Forces Travel a Difficult Road in Afghanistan
''All Things Considered'', National Public Radio. June 10, 2009

References

Landforms of Herat Province Valleys of Afghanistan {{herat-geo-stub