Thursday, 19 September 2013

NATO to 'investigate' drone strike after Afghans say civilians died

NATO to investigate drone strike after Afghans say civilians died - OrlandoSentinel.com:
Following on the previous post about mass casualties, here is the latest atrocity from 12 days ago. Usual background soundtrack - 'Karzai condemns' 'Investigation launched...'. In 12 years of following events in Afghanstan I have never yet seen the results of one NATO 'investigation' of this type. 
The attack took place on September 7 in the eastern province of Kunar. NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) initially said "10 enemy forces" had been killed and it had no reports of any civilian casualties.
"When allegations arose of civilian fatalities as a result of this mission, ISAF initiated an investigation," said a force spokeswoman, Colonel Jane Crichton.
"The air strike targeted insurgents riding in a truck. There were no signs of civilians in the vicinity," Crichton said.
But Karzai had strongly condemned the attack from the outset. He called it an attack on women and children which was "against all internationally agreed principles".
Afghan security officials in Kunar said NATO special operations forces had launched the drone to attack an al Qaeda operative.
"Four women, four children, two drivers, a merchant and three suspected (insurgents) were killed," Kunar governor Shuja ul-Mulkh Jalala told Reuters."

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