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| Afghanistan |
| 'Tribal animosity behind Azizabad deaths' |
| 2008-09-15 |
| A rival tribe provided false information for the US military in an operation that killed up to 90 Afghan civilians last month, official says. "There was total misinformation fed to the coalition forces," said Humayun Hamidzada, the spokesman for President Hamid karzai. Afghanistan's Interior Ministry said Friday three suspects were detained for their role in the US bombardment of the village of Azizabad. The three are accused of giving the US military false information, which led to the imprecise August 22 bombing of the village of Azizabad, in Afghanistan's Herat province. An Afghan government commission, later backed by a preliminary UN report, found that up to 90 civilians, including 60 children, were killed. Villagers of Azizabad say their homes were targeted because of false information provided by a rival tribesman named Nader Tawakil. The bombing disaster, in which 'not a single Taliban' was killed, has caused a strain on the US-Afghan relationship, Hamidzada said. He specially regretted the 'total denials' on the part of the United States military concerning the tragedy. The US at first claimed no civilians were killed in the operation, saying they had killed a known militant commander named Mullah Sidiq and 30 militants. Later, a formal military investigation into the incident said that up to 35 militants and seven civilians were killed in the attack. The US findings were gravely compromised last week after video images from Azizabad showing at least 10 dead children and around 40 villagers surfaced. The U.S plans to investigate the strike again, which the Afghan government has called unnecessary as they already have the facts. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 Not necessarily. There's enough inter-tribal animosity to make it a valid reason. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2008-09-15 14:00 |
| #1 Iranian shit-stirring? |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2008-09-15 11:11 |