Nederland en Afghanistan 204

'120 die' as US bombs village

Afghan outrage after strike targeting Taliban fighters hits women and
children

By Patrick Cockburn in Kabul

Thursday, 7 May 2009

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.

Lees verder: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/120-die-as-us-bombs-village-168