US air strikes in Afghanistan 'kill dozens of women and children'
US air strikes in Afghanistan 'kill dozens of women and children'
06 May 2009
Air strikes by US forces in Afghanistan on Tuesday are now thought to have killed dozens of civilians including women and children, the Red Cross has said. By Miles Amoore in Kabul
The American military has announced it will investigate reports that the strikes killed scores of Afghan civilians sheltering from fierce fighting between Taliban militants and government soldiers. Afghan officials say up to 120 non-combatants were killed when US warplanes dropped bombs on two villages in Bala Baluk, a Taliban-controlled district in the western province of Farah.
If confirmed, the civilian death toll would be one of the highest since the US-led invasion toppled the hard-line Taliban regime in 2001. Abdul Ghafar Watandar, the provincial police chief, said Taliban militants used villagers as human shields by herding them into houses during the US air attacks. "The fighting was going on in another village, but the Taliban escaped to these two villages, where they used people as human shields. The air strikes killed about 120 civilians and destroyed 17 houses," he said. Bodies were still being pulled from the rubble on Wednesday, he said. Jessica Barry, a spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, said a team of Red Cross investigators had found dozens of dead bodies and destroyed homes in the villages. "We can absolutely confirm there were civilian casualties," she said. "It seemed they were trying to shelter in houses when they were hit. Ms Barry said that among those killed was a first aid volunteer for Afghanistan's Red Crescent Society, who died along with 13 members of his family.
US-led forces, which acknowledged carrying out air strikes in the district, said they had launched an investigation with the Afghan government into reports of civilian casualties. "We will do everything in our power to remunerate the losses and provide assistance to the families if there is evidence of civilian casualties," Colonel Greg Julian, a spokesman for the US-led coalition, said. Fierce clashes between Afghan troops and Taliban militants erupted on Monday night after government soldiers were sent into the district to hunt down Taliban fighters who had executed three government employees earlier in the day. Colonel Julian said the militants opened fire from inside compounds in the villages, killing a number of Afghan soldiers and forcing the US army to call in air strikes on the homes. The air strikes came just a day before the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari were due to meet Barack Obama at a crucial summit in the White House to discuss counter-terrorism policy. About 2,000 civilians died in insurgency-related violence in Afghanistan last year, according to the United Nations.
Mr Karzai has frequently accused foreign troops of undermining the Afghan government's control over the country by failing to prevent civilian casualties during ground and air operations.
http://tinyurl.com/damddo
06 May 2009
Air strikes by US forces in Afghanistan on Tuesday are now thought to have killed dozens of civilians including women and children, the Red Cross has said. By Miles Amoore in Kabul
The American military has announced it will investigate reports that the strikes killed scores of Afghan civilians sheltering from fierce fighting between Taliban militants and government soldiers. Afghan officials say up to 120 non-combatants were killed when US warplanes dropped bombs on two villages in Bala Baluk, a Taliban-controlled district in the western province of Farah.
If confirmed, the civilian death toll would be one of the highest since the US-led invasion toppled the hard-line Taliban regime in 2001. Abdul Ghafar Watandar, the provincial police chief, said Taliban militants used villagers as human shields by herding them into houses during the US air attacks. "The fighting was going on in another village, but the Taliban escaped to these two villages, where they used people as human shields. The air strikes killed about 120 civilians and destroyed 17 houses," he said. Bodies were still being pulled from the rubble on Wednesday, he said. Jessica Barry, a spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, said a team of Red Cross investigators had found dozens of dead bodies and destroyed homes in the villages. "We can absolutely confirm there were civilian casualties," she said. "It seemed they were trying to shelter in houses when they were hit. Ms Barry said that among those killed was a first aid volunteer for Afghanistan's Red Crescent Society, who died along with 13 members of his family.
US-led forces, which acknowledged carrying out air strikes in the district, said they had launched an investigation with the Afghan government into reports of civilian casualties. "We will do everything in our power to remunerate the losses and provide assistance to the families if there is evidence of civilian casualties," Colonel Greg Julian, a spokesman for the US-led coalition, said. Fierce clashes between Afghan troops and Taliban militants erupted on Monday night after government soldiers were sent into the district to hunt down Taliban fighters who had executed three government employees earlier in the day. Colonel Julian said the militants opened fire from inside compounds in the villages, killing a number of Afghan soldiers and forcing the US army to call in air strikes on the homes. The air strikes came just a day before the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari were due to meet Barack Obama at a crucial summit in the White House to discuss counter-terrorism policy. About 2,000 civilians died in insurgency-related violence in Afghanistan last year, according to the United Nations.
Mr Karzai has frequently accused foreign troops of undermining the Afghan government's control over the country by failing to prevent civilian casualties during ground and air operations.
http://tinyurl.com/damddo
bin66 - 7. Mai, 00:13
