A meeting between the commander of the French forces in Afghanistan and the local tribal leaders was attacked today by insurgents with rockets that claimed the lives of 12 civilians and injured 38 others. The meeting between the French Brigadier General Marcel Druart and the local tribal leaders was centered on a French military offensive in the region on Sunday.

One of the witnesses of the carnage, Lt. Col. Lionel of the French armed forces confirmed that the attack was in fact targeted at the meeting, known as the Shura and that, these meetings were especially vulnerable to such attacks, as a lot of invitations are sent for people to join the meeting. Brig. General Marcel, who was reportedly unscathed in the attack and he stated that, the attack on the meeting showed that the insurgents were oblivious to the safety of the innocent civilians.

In a statement at the NATO forward operating base (FOB), Brig. Gen. Marcel said, that the French forces immediately sprang into action and retaliated to the insurgent attack with artillery fire on the sites from which the rockets were launched. Druart, is the commander of the French forces operating in Afghanistan, with more than 3,000 French troops under his command. The attack took place 90 minutes into the Shura meeting, yet the meeting continued to show the Taliban the resilience of the Afghan civilians and coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Sunday’s military offensive against the insurgents in the northwest of Kabul was headed by French armed force and was comprised of 700 French and 100 Afghan soldiers, along with more than 100 armored vehicles

Via Associated Press.