LIBYA: In Libya – as always in war – civilians pay highest price

CNN | Ivan Watson & Jomana Karadsheh | August 5, 2011

Zlitan, Libya — A grown man sobbed as friends led him out of the mosque. Mustafa Naji al-Mrabet’s left hand and feet were bandaged, there were bloodstains on his robes, and the valve for an intravenous needle still stuck out of his arm. He was both a husband and a father, deep in mourning.

Nearby, his brother-in-law, 26-year-old Abubakr Ali cried like a child. Ali pulled back the blankets covering two small coffins. Inside lay the bloody bodies of his nephews, Mohamed and Motez al-Mrabet, ages 5 and 3. Their mother Ibtisam lay in a coffin beside them.

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YEMEN: Yemen air force jet bombs bus by mistake; 4 dead

Ahmed Al-Haj | Associated Press | June 29, 2011

SANAA, Yemen — Military and hospital officials say a Yemeni air force jet mistakenly bombed a bus in a southern city controlled by Islamic militants and suspected al-Qaida members, killing four and wounding 12 passengers.

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AFGHANISTAN: Karzai’s civilian casualties ultimatum

Foreign Policy | Erica Gaston | June 2, 2011

This week Afghan President Hamid Karzai kicked off the Afghan fighting season with strong words, not for the Taliban, but for his international allies. On Tuesday Karzai demanded that international forces halt airstrikes on Afghan homes, or leave. “From this moment, airstrikes on the houses of people are not allowed,” Karzai announced at a press conference. Karzai accused international forces of acting like occupiers, rather than allies, and implied that if their demands on civilian casualties were not heeded Afghans would respond with force. “[H]istory is a witness how Afghanistan deals with occupiers,” Karzai said.

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AFGHANISTAN: Three Afghan civilians die in Nato air strike

AFP

20 April 2011

ASADABAD: A child was among three civilians who died in a Nato air strike in eastern Afghanistan which also killed 14 insurgents, local officials said Wednesday.

The attack by the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) happened late Tuesday in the Dangam district of Kunar province, provincial governor Fazlullah Wahidi told AFP.

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LIBYA: NATO urged to increase strikes despite deaths

By: Anne Barker

April 13, 2011

France and the UK are calling on NATO to step up its bombing efforts in Libya, despite reports of civilian deaths from an allied airstrike.

NATO warplanes in Libya reportedly killed several civilians – including women and children – in a bombing south-west of the capital Tripoli.

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