Six Civilians Killed In Latest Botched Nato Raid

KABUL, Afghanistan — Nato spin-doctors have managed to obfuscate this story by their bizarre statements but local officials said a night raid by NATO forces killed six civilians in the relatively peaceful northern Afghan province of Sar-e-Pul on Tuesday.The latest massacre adds to the debate surrounding night raids, which have become a centerpiece of U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan as coalition forces seek to kill or capture 'insurgents'. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has asked the International Assistance Force, the official name for the coalition, to halt the raids, one of which last month resulted in the death of a Karzai cousin in Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. The ISAF statement said Monday night's raid in Sar-e-Pul had targeted the Taliban's provincial 'shadow governor - a key broker in the north" with ties "to foreign fighter facilitation and suicide training camps operating in the province." Needless to say, they bizarrely failed to give this gubernatorial figure a name. They also did not claim to have killed or captured this phantom Talib. It's good to see that Nato are trying to pacify Afghans, furious about the Koran burning exploits of US fanatics, by killing more innocent Afghans. I wonder if Karzai will condemn this and......... possibly demand an 'investigation'.