June 22, 2007

Civilian Death Toll In Afghanistan Continues To Mount

Officials announced today that 25 civilians, including nine women and three young children from one family, were killed in a NATO airstrike aimed at Taliban insurgents in a small village in southern Afghanistan last night. A NATO spokesman said the strike, which also killed 20 fighters, was in response to an insurgent attack earlier in the evening.

Lieutenant-Colonel Mike Smith of NATO expressed regret for the casualties but insisted that "it was insurgents who initiated this attack, and in choosing to conduct such attacks in this location and at the time, the risk to civilians was probably deliberate.”

A U.S. airstrike in eastern Afghanistan also killed seven children on Sunday, just as human rights groups were issuing reports blaming both coalition and insurgent forces for a huge spike in civilian deaths in 2006. Afghan President Hamid Karzai discussed the issue with Defense Secretary Robert Gates in Kabul earlier this month.

Posted at 10:38 AM
Posted to: Afghanistan, Asia
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