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Afghanistan
Ten Afghan civilians killed in NATO airstrikes
2009-12-29
[Iran Press TV Latest] Ten civilians including eight school children have been killed the latest episode of NATO's imprecise airstrikes in Afghanistan.

"Initial reports indicate that in a series of operations by international forces in Kunar province... 10 civilians, eight of them school students have been killed," Afghan President Hamid Karzai's office said Monday.

Karzai has strongly condemned the killings in the airstrikes and appointed a delegation to investigate the event.

NATO forces in Kabul said they were looking into the incident, but declined to give further details.

Kunar representative in the parliament walked out of an important session debating appointments to Karzai's new cabinet in protest at the civilian casualties.

The border regions of Kunar have long been volatile as Taliban militants are said to cross the porous border from Pakistan to fight Western troops and Afghan government forces.

The imprecise operations carried out by the 100,000-plus foreign forces in Afghanistan have been criticized for their potential in claiming civilian casualties.

In one of the worst such cases, more than 140 people, including at least 30 civilians, were killed or wounded in Kunduz Province on September 4.
Posted by:Fred

#8  Sooner or later we're going to have to hit the Presidential Compound in Kabul. That's the source of most of the propaganda war against Allied forces.
Posted by: Old Patriot   2009-12-29 17:17  

#7  RE:#2
nuke the danged place, bulldoze it and start over...or eradicate islam.

how about 'all of the above'?
Posted by: abu do you love   2009-12-29 15:42  

#6  And it really sucks when they don't have a woman or child to hide behind, or a burka to hide in.
Posted by: anymouse   2009-12-29 14:58  

#5  BTW, it must suck when those Lions of Islam see a squad of Americans bust into their hideout like Terminators and wastes each one, one by one.
Posted by: ed   2009-12-29 12:11  

#4  A NATO official said that Sunday's mission in Kunar was a joint, ground operation involving U.S. and Afghan forces and no aircraft were used. The official sought anonymity so as not to interfere with coalition's involvement in the Afghan-led investigation of the incident.

The planned mission was against an insurgent network tracked for some time that was believed responsible for homemade explosive attacks on Afghan and international forces, the official said.

Based on weapons and improvised explosive device components found at the scene, the troops involved in the mission confirmed the deaths of nine insurgents, who were all young males, he added.

Gen. Zaman Mamozai, the local border police commander, also said Tuesday that those killed were insurgents.

He told The Associated Press by telephone that he had received photos from the forces involved in the fighting that show the young victims were armed insurgents planning attacks against international troops. Mamozai said coalition forces found homemade explosives in the house where the incident happened.

"I don't see civilians in the photos," he said. "The coalition said our target was insurgents who were planning to sabotage the security of the area. This operation looks like a successful operation. It seems like the men, ages between 25 and 30, were meeting in a room when they were struck."
Posted by: ed   2009-12-29 12:07  

#3  Glenmore, don't get too hasty about the accuracy of NATO forces.

France is in there and while I will not fault their troops bravery under fire the pilots cannot be trusted to not break the unbreakable. Having them hit off-target with GPS-guided munitions is unthinkable . . . but they have succeeded at it in the past.
Posted by: Jame Retief   2009-12-29 11:22  

#2  In an insurgency, "asymmetrical war" or whatever politically correct term you want to use, none of the "enemy combatants" wear uniforms. Also since we have a vast trove of anecdotal information that women and children actively participate in the mayhem, either as suicide boomers or shooting at our troops, how can any moron say we killed civilians with a straight face?

Same freaking problem we had in Viet Nam, women shooting our wounded, kids throwing hand grenades at convoys...and when we popped them, we were shooting civilians...

Its all crap, nuke the danged place, bulldoze it and start over...or eradicate islam.
Posted by: Karl Rove   2009-12-29 10:24  

#1  latest episode of NATO's imprecise airstrikes

The airstrikes are extremely precise; IF civilians and school children are killed it is because they were being used as human shields for Taliban attacking NATO forces. Alternatively the civilians and students may well have been attacking NATO forces themselves - in A'stan you don't have to be an adult or military to shoot at infidels.
Posted by: Glenmore   2009-12-29 07:25  

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