NATO air raid kills 21 in Afghan south - governor(civilians)

[maddezmom]

Source: Reuters

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, May 9 (Reuters) - A NATO air strike killed 21 civilians, including women and children, in Afghanistan's Helmand, the governor of the southern province said on Wednesday.

The air strike late on Tuesday night hit houses in a village of Sangin district, where NATO forces have been hunting Taliban militants in recent weeks, he said.



Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ISL285514.htm

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Official: 21 Afghan civilians killed 22 minutes ago

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Airstrikes called in by U.S. Special Forces soldiers fighting with insurgents in southern Afghanistan killed at least 21 civilians, officials said Wednesday. One coalition soldier was also killed.

Helmand provincial Gov. Assadullah Wafa said Taliban fighters sought shelter in villagers' homes during the fighting in the Sangin district Tuesday evening, and that subsequent airstrikes killed 21 civilians, including several women and children.

The U.S.-led coalition said militants fired guns, rocket propelled grenades and mortars at U.S. Special Forces and Afghan soldiers on patrol 15 miles north of Sangin.

Maj. William Mitchell, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, said troops killed a "significant" number of militants.

"We don't have any report of civilian casualties. There are enemy casualties — I think the number is significant," Mitchell said without releasing an exact figure.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070509/ap_on_re_as/afghan_violence

[maddezmom]

1. Death of Afghan civilians probed

Death of Afghan civilians probed
Wednesday, 9 May 2007 10:25
Twenty-one civilians have been killed in an air strike in southern Afghanistan.

Most of those killed in the attack, which occurred in Sangin district of Helmand province, were women and children.

It was immediately unclear whether the raid was carried out by US-led coalition forces or by NATO's Security Assistance Force. Both operate alongside the Afghan military.

The civilian casualties are the latest in a string of such incidents which have angered Afghans and prompted President Hamid Karzai to tell foreign forces 'to take more care' in battle situations.

An investigation is continuing into the death of over 50 civilians in an incident in the western province of Herat last month.

more:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0509/afghan.html

[maddezmom]

2. At least 20 civilians dead in Afghan air strike

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) - An air strike by foreign forces killed 20 to 30 villagers, including women and children, in southern Afghanistan overnight, a governor and a witness told AFP Wednesday.

The new claim of civilians dying in operations against Taliban fighters comes after nearly 60 people were said to have been killed in such incidents late last month, prompting angry demonstrations.

War planes bombed a village in the Sangin district of Helmand province late Tuesday, provincial governor Assadullah Wafa said.

"Twenty-one civilians including women and children were killed," he said.

A man from the bombed village of Sarwan Qala told AFP the toll was higher, at about 30 dead. It was not clear whose planes were involved.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070509/ts_afp/afghanistanunrest_070509113613

[Massachusetts]

3. DID WE LEARN ANYTHING FROM THE SOVIETS MISADVENTURE HERE?