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Headlines : "War on Terror"At least 30 Afghan civilians killed in air strike
More casualties of our courageous troops in Afghanistan – courtesy of air strikes in Helmand province. After meeting heavy resistance in the village of Girishk, coalition troops called in death from above.
According to U.S. Major General John Thomas, “All enemy positions were destroyed, but after friendly forces surveyed the area there were reports of some possible civilian deaths.”
“The remains of some people who appeared to be civilians were found among enemy fighters in a trenchline.”
Other reports have put the death toll at 65.
[Posted By Szamko]Republished from New Zealand Herald
More than 30 civilians were reported killed and dozens wounded on Saturday in an air strike by foreign forces fighting the Taleban in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province, a regional official said.
“It happened in the early morning [local time],” provincial official Mohammed Daoud told Reuters. “Between 30-37 civilians have been killed and tens (dozens) of others have been injured.”
Other local officials gave different but similar accounts of the casualties.
A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) for Afghanistan confirmed the incident, but said his reports from the field said only “a small number” of civilians had been involved.
US Air Force Major John Thomas said that after a long skirmish and under constant fire from the Taleban, ISAF troops called for air support during an operation in Girishk, Helmand province, where the Taleban has been resurgent this year.
Posted by Szamko
Just tries to tell the truth.
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Posted by Szamko on Saturday, June 23rd 2007
‘Up to 80 civilians dead’ after US air strikes in Afghanistan Air strikes in the British-controlled Helmand province of Afghanistan may have killed civilians, coalition troops said yesterday as local people claimed that between 50 and 80 people, many of them women and children, had died.
Afghans, foreign forces at odds over casualties – sounds like the somebody needs to sort out their PR.
And more terror: Flash flood kills more in storm-hit Pakistan A flash flood swept through six villages in Pakistan’s storm-hit Baluchistan province killing 30 people and forcing more than 10,000 from their homes as a huge effort to help up to 1.5 million people geared up.
And some U.S. numb-nuts are trying to offload U.S. military incompetence in Afghanistan onto allied nations.
Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, who also signed the letter, along with 21 other senators, warned that without action, NATO ran a “serious risk” of failing in Afghanistan. “We must ensure that the Taliban are uprooted, and that an effective Afghan force can take responsibility for the security of Afghanistan.”
“But, the United States alone cannot effectively accomplish these goals; we need the robust support of our NATO allies,” Hagel said. NATO has appeared increasingly embattled in Afghanistan in recent days, after Afghan President Hamid Karzai, accused the alliance-led ISAF force and separate US-led coalition of killing about 90 civilians this month, most in air operations.
german media is reporting up to 130 civilians dead
WSW reports “over 100” in this CounterCurrents reprint.
http://www.countercurrents.org/carter030707.htm