"NATO rocket killed civilians, Afghans allege; 52 dead; US says a team is investigating" by Richard A. Oppel Jr., New York Times | July 27, 2010
Abdul Ghafaar comforted his nephew at a hospital in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Saturday after a firefight in Sangin. (Associated Press)
KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan officials said yesterday that 52 people were killed in southern Afghanistan on Friday when a rocket fired by coalition forces hit a house where women and children had taken shelter from fighting between NATO troops and militants. US officials disputed the account.
If the toll is accurate, the attack will be one of the worst cases of civilian casualties in the nine-year war. It comes as a leak of thousands of military documents casts new doubts on whether US and coalition forces have done enough to avoid civilian deaths, and whether all of them have been reported by the military.
Related: WickedLeaks
The Afghan government said its information about the reported rocket attack, which took place in the Sangin district of Helmand province — one of the deadliest areas for NATO troops in recent years — originated with its own intelligence service, the National Directorate of Security.
Didn't we just take that over from the British?
But late yesterday, the US-led military command in Kabul said that an investigation it was conducting with Afghan officials “has thus far revealed no evidence of civilians injured or killed.’’
The knee-jerk lie they always tell at first.
But it was not clear whether the NATO investigative team had yet reached the scene.
Interviewed by telephone, witnesses from the area where the attack was supposed to have taken place said that Friday a US military force engaged Taliban militants in an intense firefight in two remote villages. Taliban fighters warned residents to leave. Many fled to Rigi, a remote village with only a half-dozen homes.
Women and children from about eight families were packed into one home, while many of the men took shelter in the forest around the village, they said. About 4:30 p.m. they heard the first of two powerful explosions that blanketed Rigi in smoke as military aircraft flew overhead, the villagers said.
One resident, Mohammed Usman, 57, said he helped pull the bodies of 17 children and seven women from the rubble. “They have ruined us, and they have killed small children and innocent women,’’ he said. “God will never forgive them.’’
That brought tears and the title.
Another resident, Abdul Samad, said: “They targeted an area which we believed was safer, but in one hit they killed over 50 people. Most of them were children and women, and I have lost my relatives as well.’’
He said US forces came to Rigi the next day and said they had fired because they had observed a man carrying a weapon....
And that brings a ROCKET STRIKE?
Because SOMEONE SAW SOMEONE with a GUN in Afghanistan!
If the Afghan government’s account is accurate, it would mean the largest number of civilians were killed in any attack since September, when more than 100 people died in a bomb strike called in by the German military in Kunduz province.
Related: Slow Saturday Special: Americans Caught in Afghan Fireball
They lied then, too!
The controversy could pose a challenge to the new US and NATO commander, General David H. Petraeus....
Aww, poor Petraeus and his private killers!
So how is that investigation going, MSM?
"Afghan blast kills 25 on bus; Deadly month for civilians, US forces" by Amir Shah, Associated Press | July 29, 2010
KABUL, Afghanistan — A packed bus hit a roadside bomb yesterday in southern Afghanistan, killing 25 people aboard, as NATO announced another US service member died, adding to a rapidly rising monthly death toll....
Also yesterday, officials reported that three more international service members were killed — two Italians and an American....
Then leave. You don't want your soldiers dying for a lie then leave.
Yesterday, an Afghan villager was killed by US soldiers in the volatile Arghandab Valley, a strategic area near Kandahar City. An Associated Press journalist who witnessed the shooting said soldiers approached a compound near where they had found a hidden bomb. Someone fired at the Americans, who shot back, killing a man who the troops said was carrying a rifle.
Think I'm going to believe them?
The villagers insisted that he was not a Taliban member and maintained they did not hear gunfire, although the AP journalist said bullets were flying near the troops.
Guess who I am believing.
On Monday, the Afghan government said 52 civilians, including women and children, died when a NATO rocket struck a village in southern Afghanistan last week — a report the international coalition has disputed.
Karzai’s office said an investigation by Afghan intelligence officers determined a NATO rocket slammed into Rigi village in Helmand Province, one of the most violent areas of the country.
The US-led command also said an investigation was underway but reports of mass civilian casualties in Rigi were unfounded.
Pretty easy when you haven't looked.
Is the TEAM EVEN THERE yet or was that just bulls*** pr?
NATO said investigators determined that alliance and Afghan troops came under attack Friday about 6 miles south of the village and responded with helicopter-borne strikes. Coalition forces reported six insurgents killed, including a commander.
That's all they "found?"
In central Uruzgan Province, meanwhile, three Afghan soldiers were killed when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb yesterday, said Gulab Khan, deputy provincial police chief.
Army Brigadier General Josef Blotz of Germany told reporters yesterday in Kabul that the Taliban’s senior leadership ordered the assassination of multiple tribal elders in an area of Uruzgan....
He said, alleging recent attacks can be traced to instructions issued by Taliban leader Mullah Omar to attack anyone supporting the government.
That looks like U.S. policy.
During the past 90 days, 350 Taliban figures have been captured or killed by coalition forces, Blotz said.
Then how come we are losing?
