Posted by warvictims on July 8, 2009
American Forces Press Service
By JIM GARAMONE
WASHINGTON, July 6, 2009 – A new tactical directive for coalition forces serving in Afghanistan re-emphasizes the importance of preventing civilian casualties.
Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force and U.S. Forces Afghanistan, released the directive July 2. It builds on previous tactics and is much clearer about use of close-air support, searching Afghan houses and protecting Afghan cultural and religious sensitivities. All coalition forces in Afghanistan must follow the directive.
Taliban fighters use a tactic of engaging coalition forces from positions that expose Afghan civilians to danger. Close-air support of coalition and Afghan personnel engaged in a May 4 firefight with the Taliban in Afghanistan’s Farah province killed numerous civilians. The Taliban cite such incidents to lead people to believe the NATO-led force does not care for Afghan civilians. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Actors, Afghanistan, Blogroll, Country, ISAF | Tagged: Afghanistan, Civilian Casualties, civilian deaths, coalition forces, directive, Gen. Stan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, General McChrystal, ISAF, Nato, Taliban, U.S. Forces Afghanistan | Leave a Comment »
Posted by warvictims on July 8, 2009
Reuters
By RANGA SIRILAL
COLOMBO, July 8 (Reuters) – Sri Lankan government doctors who gave civilian casualty figures to the media in the final months of the island nation’s 25-year war recanted on Wednesday after spending weeks under arrest.
The doctors’ statements that thousands were being killed raised diplomatic pressure on Sri Lanka to slow its assault in the final phase, fuelled a hotly contested propaganda duel and prompted Western calls for a war crimes probe.
Five doctors now in the custody of the Criminal Investigation Department said they were under pressure from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) separatists to give out exaggerated figures of people killed in military shelling. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Actors, Blogroll, Body Count, Civilian Casualties, Country, Crossfire Deaths, Government, Insurgents, Other, Region, Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, Type of Harm | Tagged: Civilian Casualties, civilian death toll, civilian deaths, doctors, Dr. V. Shanmugarajah, Dr. Varatharaja, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, LTTE, Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan government, Tamil Tigers | Leave a Comment »
Posted by warvictims on July 8, 2009
By IRIN
NAIROBI, 7 July 2009 (IRIN) – As more internally displaced persons (IDPs) flee fighting in Mogadishu for the southern coastal city of Kismayo, conditions for thousands already living there are deteriorating sharply, local sources said.
“There are about 29,000 of us [IDPs] in Kismayo and we are living in very bad conditions; no one is helping us,” Mahamud Ali, an elder in one of the IDP camps, told IRIN by telephone from Kismayo, 500km south of Mogadishu.
“The last time any assistance was provided to the displaced was in April this year. People are in a desperate situation.” There are no aid agencies operating in Kismayo, he said. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Africa, Blogroll, Country, Displacement, Mortars, Other, Refugee Camps, Region, Somalia, Tactics, Type of Harm | Tagged: Al Shabab, Al-Shaabab, Displacement, IDP camps, IDPs, internally displaced people, Kismayo, Mogadishu, overcrowding, Somalia | Leave a Comment »
