(Updated: Originally published October 27, 2006)
Reposting because exposing the suffering we are ladeling out across the globe is MY mission, and the purpose of this blog.
"Dozens of Afghanis killed in NATO strike" by Allauddin Khan/Associated Press October 26, 2006
LAY KUNDI, Afghanistan --Abdul Aye said his brothers, uncles, nieces and nephews were buried when a NATO airstrike collapsed the thick, dried-mud walls of their village home.
Twenty-two members of the extended family died, he said, and were among those interred in a mass grave in the village of Mirwisa Mina and mourned yesterday by hundreds at a funeral in Kandahar city.
Aye spoke softly through his tears, then had to turn away:
"Everyone is very angry at the government and the coalition. There was no Taliban. These tragedies just keep continuing."
[So the U.S. is filling up mass graves, huh?
And this man's story makes me weep. May God forgive us]
Dozens of villagers were killed in a NATO military strike against suspected Taliban militants, Afghan officials said. Villagers fled the southern region by car and donkey, and hundreds attended a funeral for some 20 people buried in a mass grave.
The civilian deaths -- estimated by Afghan officials at between 30 and 85, including many women and children -- are among the highest in any foreign military action here since the fall of the Taliban and could turn residents against the counterinsurgency campaign.
NATO said a preliminary review found that 12 civilians were killed in the clashes Tuesday in the Panjwayi district of Kandahar province, the Taliban's former southern stronghold. But the alliance could not say if they had died because of Taliban or NATO action.
Maj. Luke Knittig, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force, said up to 70 militants may have been killed in three clashes. The fighting took place in or around the villages of Lay Kundi and Mirwisa Mina.
Knittig said Taliban fighters attacked NATO forces, and that return artillery fire and airstrikes were aimed at militants.
Bismallah Afghanmal, a provincial council member, said fighters fled into civilian homes, which were then attacked by NATO forces.
Mark Laity, a NATO spokesman:
"With insurgents who regard the population as a form of human shield for themselves it obviously makes life very difficult for us, but it does not stop us from making every effort to ensure that we minimize any problems."
But villagers and local government officials denounced NATO and blamed the government for a lack of security.
Afghanmal: "The people are not forgetting the deaths of their children after a simple 'sorry.'"
[Would you, American?]
Despite Afghanmal's remarks that the fighters had run into civilian homes, villagers insisted there were no Taliban in their midst.
Death tolls in remote military action in Afghanistan are difficult to pin down, and estimates often vary widely. Also in question is who can be considered a civilian and who is a fighter.
The worst previous reported incident of civilian deaths from foreign military action in Afghanistan came in July 2002, when a U.S. airstrike in Uruzgan province killed 48 civilians, many of them at a wedding party.
On Thursday, villagers in Lay Kundi, 20 miles southwest of Kandahar city, loaded their cars with household goods and fled the area. One family with no car loaded three donkeys and walked. Left behind were sheep and other farm animals killed in the bombings.
Fazel Mohammed, 52, a villager in Lay Kundi, where several mud homes were destroyed:
"Fourteen members of my family were killed."
In Kandahar, hundreds of mourners attended a funeral for 22 victims buried overnight in a mass grave in Mirwisa Mina about 10 miles to the west, said lawmaker Habibullah Khan.
Taj Mohammad, a villager at the funeral who said 10 of his relatives had been killed:
"There were no militants. Innocent people have been killed."
Afghanmal, the provincial council member, put the death toll at 80 to 85 civilians"
"An investigation has no meaning. These kinds of things have happened several times, and they only say 'Sorry.' How can you compensate people who have lost their sons and daughters?"
Thank you for taking the time to read this piece.
Thank you for listening to the words of the lovely Afghan people!
As for me, I don't care what "they" do; I simply want to stop killing them, no matter what!
THEY DID NOT DO ANYTHING TO US!!!!!
