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| Afghanistan |
| NATO Airstrike Killed at Least 27 'Civilians' |
| 2010-02-22 |
| A NATO airstrike killed at least 27 civilians in central Afghanistan, the Cabinet said Monday, the third time a mistaken coalition strike has killed noncombatants since the start of a major offensive in the south aimed at winning over the population. The top NATO commander, U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, apologized to the Afghan president, NATO said. The Afghanistan Council of Ministers strongly condemned the airstrike Sunday in Uruzgan province, calling it "unjustifiable." It said reports indicated that NATO planes fired at a convoy of three vehicles, killing at least 27 people, including four women and a child, and injuring 12 others. NATO confirmed that its planes fired on what it believed was a group of insurgents on their way to attack NATO and Afghan forces, but later discovered that women and children were in the vehicles. The NATO statement did not say how many people died or whether all the occupants of the vehicles were civilians. |
| Posted by:Glenmore |
| #8 strange reversion = strange inversion |
| Posted by: ed 2010-02-22 21:49 |
| #7 Starnge demographic composition don't you think? Plenty reports of the Brave Lions of Islam taking women and children hostages with them when moving believing westerners won't attack, of which they are correct. The trick is to make it known the taliban have hostages. Same for firefights. They put women and children in front of them, making them almost immune from air strikes and forcing the infantry to aim every shot. It works due to a strange reversion of morality the West has adopted. Even the Afghans are complaining about it. Afghanistan Taliban 'using human shields' - general |
| Posted by: ed 2010-02-22 20:52 |
| #6 So they jammed 27 people into three cars. Wow. I sort of wonder if they put the women and child in the cars long before the drones came along so that they wouldn't be seen. I imagine that it would be tough to distinguish women and children from men from the drones' point of view. |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-02-22 20:46 |
| #5 I imagine at least 22 of those "civilians" needed killin'. |
| Posted by: Scooter McGruder 2010-02-22 19:48 |
| #4 In another news I learned that those 27 civilans were 4 women, 1 child and 22 men Starnge demographic composition don't you think? |
| Posted by: JFM 2010-02-22 15:16 |
| #3 Shoulda moved out weeks ago , no sympathy . |
| Posted by: Granpaw 2010-02-22 11:40 |
| #2 “The Afghanistan Council of Ministers strongly condemned the air strike…” Granted, it’s the Poobah’s job to condemn these tragedies. But, for once, it would be nice if they acknowledged the difficulties in eradicating the parasites amongst them. |
| Posted by: DepotGuy 2010-02-22 08:57 |
| #1 NATO confirmed that its planes fired on what it believed was a group of insurgents on their way to attack NATO and Afghan forces, but later discovered that women and children were in the vehicles. These two things are not mutually exclusive. |
| Posted by: Parabellum 2010-02-22 08:14 |