Afghan villagers say civilians killed in raid

[StarfarerBill]

Source: Associated Press

KABUL – NATO said Thursday that four insurgents were killed during a raid southwest of Kabul, but villagers insisted the dead were civilians.

About 500 angry demonstrators collected the wooden coffins holding the bodies from the hospital and bore them atop vehicles in a procession toward the provincial capital of Ghazni.

Witnesses said foreign troops descended the Qara Bagh district of Ghazni province in helicopters and stormed two houses at about 10 p.m. Wednesday. They killed a father and his two sons along with a neighbor even though they weren't armed, according to Musa Jalali and other residents of the Baram village.

NATO denied any civilians were harmed in Wednesday's action. It said the raid was a joint operation with Afghan forces targeting a high-level Taliban commander who has organized attacks against Afghan and NATO troops and helped smuggle foreign fighters in the area.

"The joint force engaged insurgents while clearing a compound and killed them," the international force said in a statement.

One of those killed was a young man estimated to be about 15 years old who grabbed the weapons of a service member, it said, adding one insurgent was detained during the operation.

"They had no weapons, no grenades, not even one single bullet was found in their home," Abdul Samad, the victims' relative, told Associated Press Television News. "All those killed were innocent people ... We are asking government officials to think about us all the time and not only today. If there is any matter of concern, they should discuss it with our elders."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100121/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan

[Mari333]

1. sigh.

[Mari333]

2. I knr'd this, but I see that the chickenhawks are up early

[Solly Mack]

3. k/r

[Arctic Dave]

4. Taliban?

"a high-level Taliban commander who has organized attacks against Afghan and NATO troops and helped smuggle foreign fighters in the area."

So anyone who doesn't go along with the US imperialist game is now a Taliban leader? Fuck the military and the horse you rode in on.

As far as I'm concerned anyone involved with invading another country is fair game to be killed.

[Bragi]

5. C'mon Afghan civilians, suck it up

Why should you be the only ones in the country safe from aerial bombardment.

I'm hoping the civilians we don't bomb will be grateful, and recommend us to their friends who haven't yet been bombed.

And then we'll win the war, the pipeline will be built, and Karzai will turn out to be a spectacularly good peacetime leader.

Anyway, I think that's the plan. And a damn good one at that.

[Flaneur]

6. Deeper into the clusterfuck we go.

And the Taliban is probably training its new recruits now.