AFGHANISTAN: 5 Afghan Civilians Reported Killed in U.S. Strike
Posted by warvictims on July 16, 2009
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — At least five Afghan civilians were killed and 13 wounded when a United States patrol came under attack on Wednesday night and called in air support, villagers and local officials said Thursday.
The chief United States forces spokesman, Col. Greg Julian, said that helicopters were engaged in the area on Wednesday night after the patrol came under fire, but he could not confirm any casualties. The patrol was still engaged in fighting on Thursday afternoon, he said.
Nine injured villagers, including two women and four children, reached a Kandahar hospital on Thursday. Several were unconscious, but others described helicopters firing into their compound at 11 p.m. as they fled the house and tried to hide in an orchard.
The United States military said it was investigating the reports of civilian casualties, and the governor of Kandahar Province also dispatched a delegation to the village to investigate.
The report comes just two weeks after the American commander of NATO and United States forces in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, issued new orders to try to reduce civilian casualties in an effort to win back support of the Afghan people.
Over the last few years, civilian casualties from NATO and United States operations have killed and wounded thousands of Afghans and have contributed to a growing opposition among the public towards the presence of foreign forces in Afghanistan and the government of President Hamid Karzai.
General McChrystal has called for all forces to make a “cultural shift” in their approach to the insurgency in Afghanistan and focus on respecting and protecting the local population. His tactical directive issued on July 2 orders limits operations against residential compounds likely to produce civilian casualties.
Forces under fire and in danger have the right to defend themselves, Colonel Julian said, but “in general, if we are not certain there are no civilians in a compound we would not target the compound.”
The wounded in the Kandahar hospital were from a farming family in the village of Tawalla, in the remote district of Shah Wali Kot, which has long been a stronghold for Taliban forces. One of the injured, Muhibullah, 24, said he woke to the sound of shooting and helicopters and ran from the house with the rest of the family toward an adjoining orchard owned by his uncle.
“When we reached the garden, the helicopter shot at us and injured three of my brothers, one sister, my mother, father and sister-in-law and killed Rahmania, a 4-year-old girl,” he said.
“I do not know the reason, we did not hear any fighting that night and there are not any Taliban in our village,” he said. “It was a very frightening night for us, we could all have been killed.”.
His father, Niamatullah, 46, said when he woke he tried to stop the family but they were already running. Helicopters were hovering near the house, he said, and when he rushed after the family they reappeared and started firing.. He said he hid behind a wall, and the helicopters fired on it. The wall collapsed, wounding him in the head. He found seven members of his family lying wounded on the ground in the orchard, including four of his sons, his wife, sister-in-law, and her daughter.
He named four neighbors, all farmers aged in their 20s and 30s, who he said were killed in the attack, besides Rahmania, his cousin’s daughter. Hay ricks and wood piles caught fire from the gunfire, which continued until 3 a.m., he said.
The governor of Kandahar Province, Tooryalai Wesa, said only four people were killed, but he did not identify them. He said he did not know if the dead were civilians or insurgents. He confirmed that there were children and women among the wounded. “We are very sad and it should not have happened,” he said.
Niamatullah said there were no Taliban in the village but the village lies close to the main road connecting Kandahar province to Uruzgan province to the north.
The American forces were on patrol away from civilian areas when they came under fire at 10:30 p.m. from small arms fire and rocket propelled grenades from a group of militants, according to an American spokeswoman, Capt. Elizabeth Mathias of the Air Force. Helicopters were involved at the beginning and other aircraft later, she said. She did not identify the United States forces involved, but American special forces based in Kandahar often patrol the region.
