COPENHAGEN, Nov. 15 Reuter: A Danish surgeon who visited Afghanistan said in a newspaper interview published today that Soviet forces there had used Napalm bombs and children had been deliberately injured by explosives made to look like toys. Erik Holm Hansen, who specializes in war surgery and has hust returned from a four week visit to Southern Afghanistan, told the daily Berlingske Tidende that he had travelled through many bomb shattered towns.
“The Soviet forces use Napalm bomb against civilians and Partisans. The helicopters drop bombs up to 500 Kilos (1,000 pounds) but we were not in the vicinity of definite battle zones”. he said.
“We saw many injuries from Napalm among both partisans and civilians, and many of the burns were several years old”.
Hansen said he heard reports of poison gas being used but saw no evidence of this himself.
He said he operated on many children wounded by picking up bombs shaped in the form of toys. “The bombs are shaped as a butterfly, a ballpoint pen or a toy car. ‘The air is not to kill but to disable. It increases the psychological pressure”, he said.
Hansen said child mortality in Afghanistan was approaching 50 percent because of a critical food shortage.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 21, 1986
