Filed under: Iraq War, political issues, women's issues | Tags: Afghanistan, Agence France Presse, War, Women and Children killed
Published on Sunday, July 6, 2008 by Agence France Presse
Afghan Governor Says 22 Civilians Killed in Air Strike
JALALABAD, Afghanistan – An Afghan district governor said 22 people, most of them women and children, were killed Sunday when US-led coalition air strikes hit a wedding party in eastern Afghanistan, but the force insisted only militants were killed.
“I confirm that 22 people, three of them men and 19 of them women and children, were killed,” said Hamisha Gul, governor of Deh Bala district in the eastern province of Nangarhar.
Gul said his information came from police and other officials he had dispatched to the area near the Pakistan border to investigate after reports of civilian casualties in the incident.
His claim could not be immediately confirmed with more senior Afghan officials nor independently verified as the area is remote and difficult to access.
The US-led coalition rejected the allegations.
“It was not a wedding party, there were no women or children present. We have no reports of civilian casualties,” coalition media officer Captain Christian Patterson told AFP.
The coalition said in a statement earlier that “several” militants were killed in the air strike.
It was the second time in three days the coalition was accused of inflicting heavy civilian casualties in air strikes.
Afghan officials have said strikes on Friday in northeast Nuristan province, also on the border with Pakistan, killed more than a dozen civilians.
The coalition insists only militants were killed. President Hamid Karzai has ordered an investigation.
The seven-year internationally supported campaign to fight a bloody Taliban-led insurgency has seen several incidents in which civilians were killed, as well as claims of civilian casualties that have proven untrue.
Hundreds of civilians have been killed in international military action against insurgents, most of them in air strikes on remote areas even though the forces employ several measures to confirm the identities of their targets.
The UN said last month that nearly 700 Afghan civilians have lost their lives this year, nearly two-thirds in militant attacks and about 255 in military operations.
© 2008 Agence France Presse
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When the administration has no plan other than to kill, then that’s what happens……..Senator McCain will do the same. We have been there for years…..money spent…..no Bin Laden…….
Comment by The Real Issue July 7, 2008 @ 8:18 amWhat has gone on during this Administration is nothing short of war crimes. I feel very strongly that the Democratic Congress needs to move forward with impeachment proceedings. I think we need to let the rest of the world know that we Americans do not approve or condone what this government has been doing in our name.
I know I don’t want John McCain, but I am beginning to think that a vote for Obama is not a vote for real change. I fear it is more double speak like all the other Democrats in Congress who have refused to stand up for what is morally right (like starting impeachment proceedings) and have forgotten the American people and what we want and serve the interest groups who pay them lots of money.
This past weekend I have been looking at Americans who have lived and have died for this country. Somehow I don’t feel that they would mind if we (as Americans) made our voices known by refusing to vote for the same ole same ole of both the Republican and Democratic parties; who promise and promise change but do not deliver but only give us the same ole same ole of giving in to Corporate interests over what is best for the American people. Who really speaks for the American people in government anymore? I fear the answer is no one.
Comment by chrisy58 July 7, 2008 @ 7:23 pm