Nato bombers kill at least 25 in raid
Monday 25 October 2010
by Tom Mellen
Nato warplanes bombed a village in Helmand on Monday, destroying a mosque, damaging homes and killing at least 25 people.
Helmand provincial council chief Fazal Bari said that the toll in Maigan village would rise because many bodies were still buried in the rubble.
Nato officials confirmed the air strike on the small settlement in Baghran district, asserting that it had targeted “a senior Taliban facilitator.”
Distraught residents said that scores of civilians had died in the attack, including a 10-year-old child.
Eyewitness Salah Ayap said: “People are very angry.”
Mr Ayap reported that Western troops raided the village at around 2am, sparking a fierce gunfight that was brought to an abrupt end by the Nato blitz.
Only two walls and one small room of the large mosque were left standing and nearby homes had been damaged, Mr Ayap said.
He said that villagers were digging the dead out from the rubble with farming tools and their bare hands and washing them for burial.
Occupation forces in Afghanistan have stepped up the use of “surgical” air strikes in recent months, since General David Petraeus took control of the US-led war in the summer.
Those air strikes are believed to have killed or wounded hundreds of civilians, fuelling tension between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his Western backers, who are under increasing pressure at home over the bloody, costly conflict.
Mr Karzai raised eyebrows on Monday when he revealed that he receives $700,000 to $975,000 (£450,000-£620,000) “once or twice a year” from Iran for “official presidential expenses.”
He said the US has known about the Iranian assistance for years and that Washington also gives the palace “bags of money.”
The unpopular premier was responding to a New York Times report at the weekend which stated that Iran was doling out cash to his chief of staff Umar Daudzai to buy his loyalty and promote Iranian interests.
The US newspaper quoted unnamed sources saying the money had been used to pay Afghan MPs, tribal elders and even Taliban commanders.
There was no immediate comment from US officials.
