US air strike in Afghanistan kills 120+ civilians -- mainly women and children

US air strike in Afghanistan kills 120 civilians -- mainly women and children

'120 die' as US bombs village

Afghan outrage after strike targeting Taliban fighters hits women and children

A misdirected US air strike has killed as many as 120 Afghans, including dozens of women and children. The attack is the deadliest such bombing involving civilian casualties so far in the eight years since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

Families in two villages in Farah province in western Afghanistan were digging for bodies in the ruins of their mudbrick houses yesterday. "There were women and children who were killed," said Jessica Barry, a Red Cross spokeswoman. "It seemed they were trying to shelter in houses when they were hit." Survivors said the number of dead would almost certainly to rise as the search for bodies continued.

The killing of so many Afghan civilians by US aircraft is likely to infuriate Afghans and lead to an increase in support for the Taliban in the bombed area. President Hamid Karzai, who was meeting President Barack Obama in Washington yesterday, sent a joint US-Afghan delegation to investigate the incident. The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, standing next to Mr Karzai, voiced her "deep regret".

US Marine Special Forces supporting the Afghan army apparently called in the air strike on Tuesday on two villages in Bala Baluk district after heavy fighting with the Taliban. Accounts by Afghans of high civilian casualties are often denied or dismissed by US officials. But a team from the Red Cross visited the scene of this attack. "There were bodies, graves, there were people burying bodies when we were there," said Ms Barry. She said a first aid worker for Afghanistan's Red Crescent died with 13 members of his family. "Dozens of dead bodies were seen in the two locations we went to." Rohul Amin, the provincial governor of Farah, told The Independent that "the dead numbered over 100". Villagers brought 30 bodies, including women and children, in a truck to Mr Amin in Farah City to prove it had happened.

The Afghan government has made increasingly angry denunciations of the US Air Force for using its massive firepower without regard for ordinary Afghans. Wedding parties have been a frequent target of US bombers in both Iraq and Afghanistan, presumably because they are mistaken for gatherings of militants.

The US air strike on Bala Baluk appears to have been deadlier for civilians than any similar event since the first US intervention in Afghanistan in 2001. The government has asked villagers not to bury the dead until investigators arrive today.

Previously the worst such incident was a US strike on Azizabad in August 2008 when the US originally claimed that no civilians were killed. Afghan and UN investigators concluded that 90 Afghans had been killed. A high-level American inquiry later admitted that 33 civilians had been killed. Opinion polls in Afghanistan show that backing for the Taliban soars in provinces affected after bombing or shelling kills innocent people.

The air strikes were preceded by two days of fighting between Afghan government forces supported by the US and dozens of Taliban fighters. Farah is a poor province whose people are mostly farmers and where the Taliban has been very active. The provincial police chief, Abdul Gaffar, said three police officers and 25 Taliban were killed in fighting near the village of Ganjabad in Bala Baluk district.

Local residents later told Afghan officials that they put their children, women and elderly men in walled compounds in the village of Gerani, which is three miles from the scene of the fighting and where they thought they would be safe. It was these compounds which were then attacked from the air and most of the people sheltering inside were killed.

Despite US denials or claims that a high death toll among civilians is Taliban propaganda, the US military should have very immediate access to eyewitnesses to air strikes. This is because the most severely injured are often taken to American medical facilities at US military bases. It is not known if this happened at Bala Baluk.

After the Azizabad killings last year, the US and Nato forces in Afghanistan were meant to have introduced more stringent rules to safeguard civilians from their strikes. The top US commander in Afghanistan, General David McKiernan, issued a directive ordering commanders to consider not pursuing Taliban fighters into populated areas. The US also pledged to investigate bombing incidents alongside Afghan investigators.

Afghan air strikes: The toll mounts

552 Civilians killed in air strikes in 2008.

17 per cent Proportion of US drone attacks to hit targets since January 2006.

701 Killed in drone attacks in three years.

14 Al-Qa'ida leaders in that number.

4.5 million dollars The estimated cost of a single Predator drone.

www.theinsider.org...

More military atrocities coming from the states. Not only is this event terrible in itself, but it will stimulate support for the Taliban who we are now fully committed to fighting in Afghanistan.

How many times can we shoot ourselves in the foot before our leg falls off?

Unfortunately, what goes around comes around... The United States is gathering bad karma at an alarming rate. All these killings will result in their downfall, and i know it's all been planned in advance, that's the worst part...

Originally posted by lagenese
Unfortunately, what goes around comes around... The United States is gathering bad karma at an alarming rate. All these killings will result in their downfall, and i know it's all been planned in advance, that's the worst part...

Trouble is what bad Karma the Americans get also tends to pollute the rest of the world. America and the Allies should should pull out of all conflict zones and let the those citizens sort out their own problems.

reply to post by DataWraith


I agree, but the sad reality is that, there is so much manipulation going on, if we were to know the real truth, we'd probably go insane.

America is a f'ing joke nowadays. One step forward two steps back. One more reason why this war is a complete farce. And those of you that continue to "support the troops" are f'ing hypocrites. The "troops" are the ones dropping the bombs, piloting the drones. But I guess it's easier to live with yourself when you're behind a joystick than the barrel of a gun.

I do not think karma exists i just think the world is full of irony. Its just that america is the sole super power that we are getting any real truth. America has always been bad, and they always will be torturing and killing people. Thats what power brings, this madness that they know all.

Just how many of these mass bombings has happened now in this war, and all women and children as usual.

I wonder do the pilots or who ever fire these rockets or missiles of ever have any thoughts about what they are doing at all. Taking orders was not a defence in nuremberg in late 40's, so hw do these people see it.

reply to post by andy1033



The pilots are just "doing their job". Plus it's not pilots that are dropping bombs from Predator Drones. It's some dumb kid sitting in an air conditioned command and control room with a joystick in his hand. As technology becomes more advanced and allows battles to be fought from behind a computer screen.......human beings.......Americans........can better wash their hands of the travesties of war.

Fear not, Obama will continue his world traveling to give the U.S. a better image. Of course he could just pull the troops back like he promised in his campaign......

reply to post by jjkenobi


Obama is an empty suit. If the American people don't realize this 9 months into his Presidency there is no hope for our country. He's a globalist who could care less about the American people or national sovereignty. Meanwhile the Russians and the Chinese are aligning their interests and cutting deals all over the world. America is going to go the way of Britain. A 2nd rate power relegated to a country of rich and poor, nothing in between. The English have lost their voice as are the American people.

Originally posted by Zosynspiracy
reply to post by jjkenobi

 

Obama is an empty suit. If the American people don't realize this 9 months into his Presidency there is no hope for our country. He's a globalist who could care less about the American people or national sovereignty. Meanwhile the Russians and the Chinese are aligning their interests and cutting deals all over the world. America is going to go the way of Britain. A 2nd rate power relegated to a country of rich and poor, nothing in between. The English have lost their voice as are the American people.

We haven't lost our voice over here in the UK, we shout and shout and shout, but unfortunately the MP's can't hear us over the boombass speakers of boy racers, Davina McCall drone on Big Brother, Simon Cowells put downs on Britains got talent, or the flap of the money as they put in another claim for expenses form.

tough titty..this is a war! if you are worried about civilians dying then DON'T HIDE AMONGST THEM!

I dont know who we think we are in the UK swaggering around Afghanistan with a mere 8,000 troops who are badly equiped. What are we to expect. the bones of 3 british armies are left in the Hills of Afghanistan after 3 faiiled attempts over the last 150 years. No foreign army has ever defeated the afghans.

This will not protect our nations, just increase more hatred of the UK and US

So let me see if I understand what you little sissy girls are trying to say.

Basically, you are saying that the next time the Taliban or Al Qaida kill 3000 Americans on U.S. soil and totally destroy 2 skyscrapers, we should just ignore it and not chase them to were they are hiding, which is A-stan, and totally destroy them because some civilians might die and which is there own fault for having a lame ass strategy of hiding and having bases in with the civilians.

Is that what you are saying?

Then once we hunt you down and destroy you, you want to whine and throw the 'civilian deaths' propaganda card! Give me a break!

The sad thing is that a lot of you here immediately dismiss anything the U.S. or the U.S. media says as instant propaganda, yet believe the first terrorist who sticks his head out from the sand and yells "civilian deaths" which is their typical stategy of propaganda.

Don't you understand that you are the gullible victims for which their propaganda is meant and you are falling for it hook, line and sinker.

[edit on 7/15/2009 by WhatTheory]

reply to post by Kevin_X2


Well, congrats to the US for killing yet more women and children.

How would they feel if someone killed their women and children.

It is disgusting, and all war is disgusting, and I truly believe that it is men who make these wars, not women.

reply to post by spellbound


You should than go to Afghanistan and politely ask the Taliban to please stop hiding amongst the civilian populous because well that is a no because well we most likely will still blow you up any way. imo it is just as much the civilians fault as it is ours they allowed the Taliban to hide amongst them and allowed them to use there houses to plan and carry out war on America and its allies there so they are just as guilty. Imo

Originally posted by WhatTheory
So let me see if I understand what you little sissy girls are trying to say.

Basically, you are saying that the next time the Taliban or Al Qaida kill 3000 Americans on U.S. soil and totally destroy 2 skyscrapers, we should just ignore it and not chase them to were they are hiding, which is A-stan, and totally destroy them because some civilians might die and which is there own fault for having a lame ass strategy of hiding and having bases in with the civilians.

Is that what you are saying?

Then once we hunt you down and destroy you, you want to whine and throw the 'civilian deaths' propaganda card! Give me a break!

The sad thing is that a lot of you here immediately dismiss anything the U.S. or the U.S. media says as instant propaganda, yet believe the first terrorist who sticks his head out from the sand and yells "civilian deaths" which is their typical stategy of propaganda.

Don't you understand that you are the gullible victims for which their propaganda is meant and you are falling for it hook, line and sinker.

[edit on 7/15/2009 by WhatTheory]

maybe we should have concentrated on Afghanistan in the first place rather than our disaster in Iraq. We have not committed enough ground forces to this operation, so we should just pull out rather than see more innocents die and more young soldiers killed.

Afghanistan is a massive country and all we are doing is fighting to hold tiny bits of land. It's a war that can not be won. What next after Afghanistan. The taliban move to Pakistan. Do we invade pakistan a country of 170 million?

Our british troops number 8,000 much less than stationed in Northern Ireland through the troubles. Yet we want to stick this one out. It's a joke

[edit on 15-7-2009 by woodwardjnr]

reply to post by SPC_D


Do they allow them? Or are they forced?

If you are faced with the Taliban, I think there would be no choice.

These women and children dying are probably terrified first.

Originally posted by woodwardjnr
maybe we should have concentrated on Afghanistan in the first place

Umm....we did. Ignorance must be bliss. **SIGH**

Perhaps you have heard of Operation Enduring Freedom which removed the Taliban from power in A-stan after the 9/11 attacks. Jeesh!!

Originally posted by WhatTheory

Originally posted by woodwardjnr
maybe we should have concentrated on Afghanistan in the first place

Umm....we did.

Ignorance must be bliss. **SIGH**

Perhaps you have heard of Operation Enduring Freedom which removed the Taliban from power in A-stan after the 9/11 attacks. Jeesh!!

Well it obviously worked really well considering we are still there 7 years on, fighting the Taliban.Maybe if we had not gone on the jaunt to Iraq we could have concentrated on making sure the taliban never came back. Now look at the mess we are in, so don't start calling me ignorant, just because you know the names of the mission titles dont make you an expert.